Lyndsey is a young artist living in an ambiguous American city. Every few weeks, she meets a mysterious older man named Mr. Fulger. They have sex and he gives her money, and then he disappears and comes back later. They’d met during intermission at a concert hall and had continued their affair since. Although she delights in the sex that they have, she feels uncomfortable about his payments. He offers to get her a new job in a city closer to her parents. She doesn’t know what to do, so she waits on making a decision, but she ultimately accepts. Once she’s moved, she finds herself feeling unhappy and shame-ridden. She tries to break it off with Mr. Fulger, but he can’t understand why she would do such a thing: he gives her so much without asking for much in return. Guilty, she continues the affair while dating other guys. One man proposes to her after ten months, and she tries to break it off with Mr. Fulger again. However, when she confesses to her fiancé that she’s been sleeping with Mr. Fulger the whole time that they’d been together, he breaks off the engagement. Lyndsey thinks about leaving town, changing her hair, becoming a new person—but she knows that anyone else would think her stupid and dramatic for fleeing something that’s only benefitted her. She’s trapped.