Mrs. Foster has "an almost pathological fear" of missing a plane flight or a train journey (28). She and her husband are wealthy and well-traveled, and live in an upscale area of New York. Mrs. Foster has recently begun to believe that her husband is deliberately exacerbating this fear by waiting until the last possible second to leave the house.
Mrs. Foster has convinced Mr. Foster to allow her to fly to Paris to spend time with their daughter and grandchildren. Mr. Foster insists on accompanying his wife to the airport, but delays himself until Mrs. Foster is worried she will miss her flight. The weather is foggy, and though they arrive at the airport with time for her to catch her flight, the flight is delayed until the next morning. She wants to book a room overnight at a hotel close to the airport, but her husband insists that she return to their Manhattan home.
Mr. Foster arranges for a car to take Mrs. Foster to the airport he next morning, but informs his wife that the car will also need to drop him off at the country club first. The country club and the airport are in separate directions, and Mrs. Foster is anxious about the timing, once again worried she will miss her flight. After managing to add another 30 minutes to their departure time, Mr. Foster announces from the car that he left a gift for his daughter in their bedroom. He goes back inside the house to retrieve it, but Mrs. Foster finds the present wedged deeply between the car seats. Frantic with anxiety, she runs after him to let him know the present is in the car already. When she gets to the front door of the house, which locked behind Mr. Foster, she pauses. She listens for a moment as if she hears something from deep inside the house. Then, she turns to the driver and tells him to bring her to the airport, saying her husband will not mind taking a cab to the club instead.
Mrs. Foster has a blissful stay in Paris. She spoils her grandchildren and writes weekly to Mr. Foster to update him on what they are doing. At the end of the six-week trip, Mrs. Foster flies back to New York and is surprised to find that her husband has not sent a car to pick her up. She organizes a cab for herself, and arrives home to discover a large pile of mail underneath the mailbox, as well as a strange odor in the house. She checks the first floor but all seems normal, except that the elevator appears to be stuck between two floors. She calls the elevator company to report the broken elevator and sits down to await their arrival.
