Eleanor Flood wakes up and makes a commitment to do things differently today. She promises herself that she will do a fun activity with her eight-year-old son, Timby; initiate sexual intimacy with her husband, Joe Wallace; be polite to others; put more effort into her physical appearance; attend her yoga class; refrain from profanity; and “be [her] best self, the person [she’s] capable of being” (5).

Eleanor says that she has unhealthy and destructive habits and a tendency to make things worse most of the time. However, she is hoping that today, she will be able to do things right by committing to her lunch date with her acquaintance Sydney Madsen, taking Timby to school and picking him up, and having sex with Joe. She gets up and goes into detail about her friendship with Sydney. Eleanor had worked as an animator for the Fox TV show Looper Wash for five years before moving with Joe, a hand surgeon, from New York City to Seattle 10 years ago. She met Sydney at a party and found her painfully boring, but she is too conflict avoidant to drive Sydney out of her life.

Eleanor walks the family dog, Yo-Yo, and greets her friend Dennis before coming home to her apartment.