The narrator, a woman, works as a cashier at the local supermarket. One day, she meets a man whom she helps carry goods to his car. They start talking, and she goes home with him that night. They get married in five days. Shortly after, she meets her mother-in-law when she flies in to meet the newlyweds. The mother-in-law and son pick the narrator up after work in a car, and they have a polite introduction.

At dinner, the narrator and mother-in-law share stories about each other. The mother-in-law starts by talking about her son and his childhood. She tells one particular story about how he brought a dead pigeon home. The son drives the two of them back to his apartment, after which the mother-in-law asks the narrator for a story of her own. The narrator talks about how her parents passed away from a car accident when she was in high school. The mother-in-law then asks the narrator if she will quit working at the supermarket, to which the narrator says that she is loyal to it. The mother-in-law, in disagreement, encourages her to go back to school and graduate college so that she can have a better life.

One weekend, the mother-in-law takes the narrator shopping for clothes. She buys her nice clothes so that she can feel like she fits in with her son. When they go back to the son's apartment, the mother-in-law quickly grows cold. She scolds the narrator for making a mess of everything and accuses her of making her son a messy person as well. The narrator goes outside and wonders where the son is. A raccoon crawls toward her and nearly attacks her before turning back to the darkness.