Working at Jiffy Mart, the woman hears about a poet who was convicted for killing and raping a woman. One day, her assistant manager hands her a newspaper which details the rest of the story, and they talk more at length about the murder. The woman then learns that the murder happened in her neighborhood, and she thinks about her experience living there, how crime is somewhat rampant and infrastructure is sorely lacking in maintenance. When she heads home later, she is cautious every step of the way: checking the backseat of her car, scrambling to unlock the door to her apartment.

The next day, the woman is awoken by her neighbor, whose baby wails at 4:00 a.m. most days. She gets ready and down to her car by 5:00 a.m., as her job at Jiffy Mart starts at 6:00 a.m. She drives through her neighborhood and into Lincoln’s downtown, though she eventually finds that she has driven herself to a wheat field beside the Nebraska Penitentiary where the poet is held. She stares at it for some time before driving to Jiffy Mart to work.

At Jiffy Mart, the woman asks her assistant manager what she knows about poetry. They both find out they know nothing. After her shift, the woman goes to the public library in Lincoln and checks out a book of poetry with the help of a librarian. At her apartment, the woman cracks open the book and reads, after which she begins to fantasize about the poet in bed. The next day, the assistant manager asks the woman what she’s reading, and she gets immediately defensive about having read poetry.

One day, the woman goes back to the wheat field beside the Nebraska Penitentiary and lays out a picnic blanket for her to sit on. She begins to read her book of poetry, wondering what she really feels for the poet incarcerated close by. A man then comes up to her, asking what she’s doing near the premises of a prison. He figures out that she’s into poetry and associates her with the poet, telling her that she can contact him if she wishes. The next day, at Jiffy Mart, the woman pens a letter and poem to the poet and drops it off at the nearest mailbox on her break.

Soon enough, the woman gets a letter back from the poet. He compliments her poetry and asks her if she would be available to schedule a visit with him at the Nebraska Penitentiary. On Wednesday, the woman gets ready and dresses up nicely to see the poet. She is run through security protocols and patted down before visitation, during which she is told what she can and cannot do with an inmate.

Inside the prison room, the woman watches the poet come in and sit opposite of her. She feels nervous at the sight of him, aware that he is rigorously shackled down due to the nature of his crime. They talk for some time, and the poet quickly confides in her that he is lonely in prison. He asks her if they can take things slowly and start dating up until the moment he is given the death penalty. She looks at him closely and realizes that he really did, in fact, commit his heinous crime. Even then, however, she feels invited in by him.