While waiting for their reverend to arrive for their prayer group amidst a horrible storm, a pair of elderly Southern women try to repair a broken friendship by sharing stories about the mysterious acts of God that saved them.

A woman reflects on a day — back when she was a young poet in 1972 New York City — she spent retrieving furniture to borrow from a young man about to visit his home in Chile. The man was eventually taken by the secret police, leaving the woman with his furniture for years to come.

After the death of her stately aunt, a polite middle-aged woman tries to deal with the grief and strong opinions of her aunt's former lover and her noisy upstairs neighbor.