One night, Brandon, a mathematics professor in North Vancouver, invites his prized student over for dinner to meet his wife Lorna and their children, Elizabeth and Daniel. The student, Lionel, didn't finish school and now works in the publishing office for the Anglican Church. Lionel and Lorna strike up conversations about their childhoods and become quite attached. Lionel begins sending Lorna weekly poems in the mail, and although the poems are not of a romantic nature, they keep them secret from Brandon. Lorna also keeps secret that her cousin Polly is coming to visit. When Polly calls their home 48 hours before she is due to arrive, Brandon is perplexed as to why he didn't know before. When Polly arrives, she immediately upsets Brandon by insulting their house, and her chit-chat bothers him throughout the evening. The next day, Lorna gets a letter from Lionel who is away visiting his father. Polly leaves to explore the city, and Lorna goes to Lionel's rented room. She lies to his landlady and says she needs to get a library book he borrowed from her. She enters his room and takes in his space. The next week, Lorna and Brandon are invited to a friend's home for the weekend. When Lorna tells Polly, she is devastated. Lorna berates Polly and complains about her own lack of freedom because of Brandon. Lorna and Brandon and their children spend a lovely weekend together, but on the drive home Lorna is terrified that she will return home to Polly dead in her kitchen, that she had hurt herself somehow. Lorna thinks that after she yelled at Polly, Polly must feel terribly unwanted. She begins to bargain for Polly's survival in her head. Panicking as she walks up to her house, Lorna hears voices from her backyard. Sure enough, Polly and Lionel are there chatting away. Lorna heads upstairs to put Daniel to bed, and once he's asleep, she watches Polly, Lionel, and Brandon from the window; they look happy. Lorna is jealous and thinks back to the bargain she made for Polly's life, but she can't quite remember what she had promised in return.