In a small, remote town in the South, there is a worn-down building with a single resident who stays isolated inside. Although the old building has long been boarded up, it was once a store and then a café run by Miss Amelia Evans and her hunchback cousin Lymon. In her younger years, Amelia was widely acknowledged as the wealthiest person in town. She was fiercely independent and known for her tall statue and thick muscles. With the building inherited from her father, Amelia ran a small business selling goods and alcohol. On a quiet spring evening before the store had become a café, Amelia’s customers are shocked to meet a hunchback visitor, no taller than four feet, carrying a small luggage and looking for Amelia. He tearfully introduces himself to her as Lymon Willis, a distant cousin from her mother’s side. To the shock of all the customers, Amelia offers him a drink and even invites him for dinner. Rumors spread around town, and when people start to speculate that she murdered him, he makes an appearance in her store, haughty and well-dressed. Over the next four years, Amelia’s store is transformed into café where all the town residents go for drinks and company. Lymon becomes the heart of the café and never fails to bring in a spirit of gaiety. Amelia continues caring for Lymon, and it is clear to all the townspeople how much she loves him. The only relationship Amelia had before was with Marvin Macy, a handsome but wicked man. Having endured a terrible childhood, Marvin was a troublemaker until he suddenly fell in love with Amelia. He admired her for years and changed his character to woo her. After they got married, Amelia does not act like they are a couple and punches him when he gets too close. He leaves town after ten days of their terrible marriage and leaves a letter saying he will seek revenge. Years after the café has been opened, Marvin returns to town and to Amelia’s horror, Lymon takes a huge liking to him. Marvin gains total influence over Lymon and uses him to seek revenge on Amelia. Lymon regularly mocks Amelia in front of the café customers and forces her to let Marvin stay with them. When she is fed up of the treatment, she engages in a physical fight with Marvin to settle their disputes. Just as she is starting to win, Lymon launches himself on top of her, and the fight ends with Marvin’s win. That same night, Marvin and Lymon wreck the entire café, steal her money and savings, and make her favorite dish and dump it with poison. After the affair, Amelia hikes up all the prices at the café and eventually closes it down. Her appearance takes on a twisted quality, and she only speaks of Lymon with pure hatred. No one hears from Lymon again, and the town resumes its boring life before the café.