Culver puts his horse, Cyrus, in the meadow and walks back to the house as he watches the crows fly above the corn and the sun begin to set. Every night Culver and his family eat supper and then his father goes out to check on the corn and his sister plays piano. His father comes back and tells them how tall the corn is getting and then he reads the newspaper. Culver then watches the last bits of light disappear in the sky and reads a book before going to sleep. Culver is the quiet one of his family, his sister Louise and brother Clif think him slightly strange for his quietness. One night, when his father goes out into the corn Culver walks out there too. His mother calls to him but he keeps walking, past all of the animals they have and finally he sees his father through the corn by the fence talking to the neighbor Nan Nelson. Nan is a young pretty woman and the two of them walk arm and arm to the creek. Culver feels like he has to tell his mother about what is happening and so he walks back to the house and finds her. She asks him to fill a pail of water and he tells her to go look at the corn with him. She reluctantly agrees, saying she has too many chores to complete. They walk through the corn and it is quiet and Culver leads her further and further in, talking about how tall the corn is getting. She continues to tell him how much work she has to do and they get far enough into the fields where Culver can hear the distant laughter of his father and Nan. He asks his mother if she is content with life and she says yes and he decides to turn around and walk with his mother back to the house. They get back and he fills a pail with water and sets it on the porch. He sits outside listening to his sister playing the piano and he waits for his father to return so that he can confront him about seeing Nan. As his father comes back, Culver talks to him about how tall the corn is getting and his father says everything is coming along fine. Culver remains quiet about what he has seen and watches his horse, Cyrus, in the distance.