Dennis Hunter is a seventy-something retired man who works for the United States Forest Service in Big Bend National Park. The love of Mr. Hunter's life, Betty, has been dead for three years. They were supposed to be living out their retirement dreams together. Still, instead, Mr. Hunter fled his Atlanta home to try to escape his grief.

One afternoon, Mr. Hunter and his field crew shovel sand into a dump truck and talk amongst themselves. They tease Mr. Hunter about a woman named Martha Kolodny, whom he has a crush on. Martha is in Big Bend on an ornithological quest, and she is the first woman Mr. Hunter has connected with since his wife's passing. At an evening Ranger's Program, Martha sits down beside Mr. Hunter. Martha lives with her husband in Chicago, though she is no longer happy. After the Ranger Program, Martha kisses Mr. Hunter.

The next day, Mr. Hunter explains his dilemma to his field crew: he feels guilty about getting involved with a married woman. The crew is divided on whether he should proceed in his relationship with Martha.

That evening, Martha and Mr. Hunter go to the hot springs together. After they swim naked in the springs, they swim across a river to Mexico. They embrace on the rocky shore on the opposite side, and Mr. Hunter feels like a young man, far from his miserable life as a widower in Atlanta.