Geoffrey Lane, a writer of serials in a magazine, has grown weary of his life. After expressing his hatred of his daily tasks, his editor suggests that Geoffrey leave the city and go somewhere suburban to write, but that doesn’t help either. In the middle of his story’s climax, Geoffrey realizes that what he’s writing is terrible and destroys his copywriter. Seeing the machine dismantled, he suddenly feels free and goes outside, where he commiserates with Kent, an expert mechanic who has not been able to use his skills ever since his factory implemented machine labor, and Fletcher, an academic of compound words. While the men are initially riled up against the mechanization of the world around them, as the night progresses, their mood dims. They part ways. Back at home, Geoffrey is struck with a realization and knows where his story should continue. He panics at the sight of his broken typewriter and decides to call Kent to get him to help him fix it. Finally, Geoffrey’s ready to work again.