The protagonist is a man named R. J. Bowman, presumably in his thirties or forties. Welty doesn’t directly give his age, but he “for fourteen years traveled for a shoe company” (108). A major trait of the character is that he is ill after a month-long bout of the flu, and though he is barely recovered, Bowman feels “there was no use wishing he were back in bed […] By paying the […] doctor his bill he had proved his recovery” (108). He’s unable to slow down and rest—profitable work is the main source of purpose in his life. In fact, Bowman often slips into sales-speak, sounding more like a salesman than a full person.

Bowman is single and quite lonely after years of focusing on his career. A modern figure influenced by commercialization, the man is committed more to his profit than to his spiritual and emotional life. The narrative follows this isolated, driven, ill character through a series of events during which he wrestles with himself as his own antagonist until his innermost desire—to love and to be loved, to be in communion with fellow humanity—is revealed to the reader.