The play opens with a Young Man doing calisthenics behind a sandbox at the brightest time of day. Mommy and Daddy enter; Daddy says he's cold, and Mommy says it's warm as toast. They are looking for a place to put Grandma. Mommy asks Daddy his opinion, but he doesn't have much of an opinion. A Musician comes onstage and Mommy cues him to begin playing. The pair bring out Grandma, who looks afraid, and place her in the sandbox. After Mommy and Daddy take their seats at the front of the stage, Grandma throws sand at Mommy with a plastic shovel that is in the sandbox.
Grandma addresses the audience, explaining that she is 86 and was married at 17, to a farmer. Her husband died when she was 30 and she was left to bring up Mommy all by herself. Grandma asks the Musician to stop playing, and then notices the Young Man and asks him his name. He doesn't know, as he is an actor and the movie studios haven't given him one yet. Grandma then tells the audience that Mommy married Daddy, a very rich man, and they brought her from the farm to live in their home in the city. They made space for her under the stove and gave her an army blanket, and her own dish.
The Musician begins to play again as the lights dim and it becomes night. Mommy and Daddy recognize that it is night and know that death is coming for Grandma when they hear an offstage rumble. Grandma tells them to be quiet as it hasn't happened yet. Grandma then dies and the lights return to brightest day. Mommy and Daddy put away their mourning and exit.
Grandma attempts to move but cannot. The Young Man comes over to her and tries to silence her. She continues to speak and he tells her that he has a line to say. She lets him say that he is the Angel of Death, and he kisses her on the forehead. She tells him that the way he said it was very nice, that he has a certain quality. The Young Man is appreciative. The Musician plays.
