The story flashes back to Bob when he was younger. Bob’s love of reading begins as a child, and, after spending all his free time in the library, he decides he will become a librarian. One of the librarians is a middle-aged gay man named Sandy who, like Bob’s mother, tries to change his mind about his career choice.

Bob finishes a three-year library program in two years. His mother takes him to dinner to celebrate, inviting Sandy to join them. She drinks too much, and Bob drives her home. The next day, she tells Bob that she had always assumed that Bob is gay and that he and Sandy were a couple.

Bob gets a job at the Portland Public Library. After learning this, Sandy invites him to dinner. There, Sandy makes a pass at Bob, and Bob informs Sandy that he is not gay.

When Bob is 23, his mother dies suddenly, just months after informing Bob that she has brain cancer. On her death bed, she tells Bob of his father—information Bob has longed for through his life. She explains that they met in a bar during the Depression and, though they both liked one another, they were together for only one night.