Mrs. Flynn, Sara's nurse, forces the little girl to try on her grandmother's dress - she looks old-fashioned, and her grandmother is uncomfortably reminded of her own youth and the dreams she had before she settled down into a hasty marriage that left her overworked and disillusioned. Sara, however, is not concerned with the troubles of the old woman; she knows that Miss Bindle is coming to take her to a picnic that she is keen to avoid but unfortunately cannot. Miss Bindle talks to the grandmother about her engagement with Mr. Perry, hoping for advice from the older woman; but the grandmother is just filled with contempt for Bindle's foolishness and youth. They leave for the picnic - Miss Bindle, Mr. Perry, and the children. Sarah and Doe, the girls, stick close to each other, picking flowers and observing Miss Bindle as she explores an old cemetery they come across on the walk. The children then swim for a while - Sara comes out of the water early and sees Mr. Perry making sexual advances on Miss Bindle. She screams, saying she wants to go home; the false alarm of her shout makes the children hate her as well as the older couple. The weather changes abruptly; a sailboat collapses in the rain, and one of the sailors drowns. Mr. Perry swims out to save whoever he can, while Miss Bindle hurriedly shepherds the children to the boathouse and engages them in silly games. Sara hates the entire experience and longs to go home; she is scared of death and scared of adulthood. Even Doe, who is older than her, begins to imitate Miss Bindle's mannerisms and her condescension fills Sara with hurt. When they finally get home, her grandmother asks Sara how the picnic was. The little girl can sense that all three adults - Mrs. Flynn, Miss Bindle, and her grandmother - want her to lie about the experience, so she does. Only when she is alone with her grandmother, she admits that she saw a dead body. The horrible experience is felt deeply by the grandmother, who once again sees herself in Sara as someone who is simultaneously young and longing for death.