While weeding, a woman sees a weed and yanks it out, taking its roots out too. However, on her way to the compost pile, she steps on a rusted garden claw, which pierces through her flip-fop and into her foot. Fearing an infection, she drives to urgent care—taking the garden claw with her—in order to get it checked out, hoping that it won’t be too bad. While there, however, she gets held up by a receptionist who briefs her with a remarkable nonchalance. The woman wonders if she’s overreacting. After checking her in, the receptionist tells the woman to wait shortly for a doctor.

A nervous intern takes the woman’s vitals. The woman thinks about how she started gardening only recently, which has become a restful and satisfying pastime for her, especially as her life seems aimless and unfulfilled now. Her marriage seems bleak and futile, and her daughter is too preoccupied with her own teenage life. Her husband wants another child, thinking that it’ll solve all of their problems, which she reluctantly goes along with.

The doctor finally sees the woman. Showing him the garden claw, the woman thinks back to when her daughter pulled out a razor blade from an old box of supplies, which terrified both her and her husband. The doctor cleans her wound, soaks it in some solution, and tells her to wait. While she does, the thinks about how her car once lit on fire while she, her parents, and her brother in it, after which she scraped her knees from getting dragged out.

When the doctor comes back, he realizes that a piece of her flip-flop might be lodged into her wound. He prescribes antibiotics to avoid the risk of infection, but she says she refuses to take them. He then says that she needs a Tetanus shot, which she also hesitates about, as she fears it may affect her pregnancy, after which the doctor assures her that a Tetanus shot won’t affect her pregnancy due to new scientific consensus. In order to put her at ease, the doctor recommends a blood test to check for pregnancy.

While she waits for the blood test to process, she thinks about how good and unproblematic of a life she has had, as well as what preparation she and her family would have to make in event of a pregnancy. Seeing the door finally open, she reminisces back to ten nights ago when she made love with her husband. The doctor tells her that the blood test has come up negative. He then administers the Tetanus shot to her.

After a few days, the woman feels throbbing in her foot. Eventually, she throws away her prescription for antibiotics, and eventually goes on birth control. When her husband asks her if she really wants that, she says that she does. From then on, her garden is only somewhat successful, and her foot heals although still with a piece of plastic lodged in it. One day, they decide to push the plastic part around and tweeze it out. Finally, she feels that the wound has finally closed, that her family can forge on.