Raymond is a son struggling to address both his mother's needs and his own. Ever since she lost the ability to walk, he's been at her beck and call, overlooking her health and hygiene and routinely fetching chocolate ice cream for her. When he walks into their house carrying mint chocolate chip ice cream, she's angry that he chose the wrong flavor. He's angry that she turned the thermostat off, leading to a sweltering heat inside their home. Sweating, he tries to console her and get her to turn the AC on, but she refuses; still, she gets him to go to the store.

Raymond begins the same day anew in an alternate universe, except this time, he enters the sweltering house with the correct flavor. Cooling himself off in the freezer, he ignores her bell-ringing and is rewarded for it when he discovers her in a pool of urine. He gets her in the shower, bunches her sheets, and tosses everything in the washer. To his dismay, he realizes that he'd also thrown the AC control in there. Because their unit is so old, replacement controls are scarce. He tries to comfort his mother about the news, and in her grief, she surprises him by standing. Looking back, he realizes that his life was mainly without purpose until she decided she could no longer stand; after that, his every waking moment was dedicated to helping her, no matter how aggravating she could be. When the replacement control arrives, he tries to get her to set it to a lower temperature—seeing as he doesn't have full privileges on the control—but she instead activates the heater. In a struggle for the remote, an error message appears on the remote, dooming them to the hellish heat she set it to.

In an alternate universe, upon walking home from the store with ice cream, Raymond notices what a lovely day it is—just the right temperature. When he arrives home, the windows let the fresh air in. Inside, his mother is looking for her shoes, and he promptly helps her find them.