The woman tries to reach her friend and friend’s husband on Skype, but it’s hard to get a hold of them as the Russians prepare to enter Kyiv. As of late, there have been regional tensions, though not where the friend lives. After five days, the friend responds on Skype and says that they’re alive. The woman then calls the friend’s son, who currently lives in Toronto like her. He tells her that his parents are hiding out in their apartment, after which she asks him why they aren’t moving to Toronto. Briefly, the son says that they don’t like Toronto very much. He tells her not to worry too much.

The woman thinks back to School No. 6, the school that she went to with her friend, one of the few Ukrainians in the school. There, the woman was good at French, and her friend wanted to be good at too. Fifty years later, the friend is still practicing French. She then thinks about how her friend and friend’s husband only stayed in Toronto with their son for three months before deciding to leave. She remembers how, in a painting class, she tried to paint a spring scene, through her teacher disapproved of it, calling it a muddle, after which she tried to toe the line more and be more compromising in school, just like her friend.

The woman recalls how, a week after the Russians began invading, she talked to her friend about the impending war, though they get into an argument, in which the friend isn’t too worried about it. From then on, the woman feels like her friendship with her friend is strained, and her body and mental are especially worn from her recent chemotherapy. She thinks about how her friend disapproves of the Ukrainian forces.

After eleven days, the woman finds out her friend and friend’s husband have relocated to the outskirts of Zhitomir in Ukraine. Now, over Skype, her friend looks tired. The friend and her husband talk about the food they’ve been growing indoors, and the woman thinks that they’ll be okay. The next day, the woman calls her friend’s son and urges him to convince his parents to fly back. However, the son goes on to explain how his parents aren’t too fond of Canada, specifically that his father doesn’t like his son’s lifestyle. Knowing that her friend has diabetes, the woman still urges him to convince at least her mother to come here for healthcare. The son tells her that she will listen to her, not him.

The woman thinks about her friend’s relationship to her husband. She recalls how their marriage came about very suddenly and simply around college time. Later, after college, meeting in Kyiv, the woman shares that she’ll emigrate to Canada with her husband, whereas the friend shares that her friend’s wife has died and she may leave her current husband to be with him. Two years later, however, the friend reveals that she has stayed with her husband.

After several weeks, the woman and friend talk again. The friend shows what she’s grown in only a few weeks. The woman then confronts her about her health and what her son told her. From then on, they continue to call regularly, during which the woman shares her updates about life in her settlement. One day, the woman calls to tell her that the area around School No. 6 has been bombed, after which they recall the incident with the teacher who called her painting a puddle.

Eventually, the Russians are pushed out of Kyiv. The woman asks her friend if she’ll move there, though her friend remains uncertain. Meanwhile, her friend’s son has been looking for a place in Toronto for his mother, though the woman feels that she can’t bring it up with her friend yet. Eventually, the woman finds out that it was actually her friend, and not her friend’s husband, who made them leave Toronto all those years ago, as she wanted peace rather than the conflict which occurred while living with her son.

The woman goes to the doctor’s to get her tests. The tests come back normal. She tries to call her friend later, but her friend doesn’t pick up. She doesn’t want to call her friend’s son. Weeks pass, in which the woman waits for her friend to call.