Christmas at Frank Martin's drying-out facility. An unnamed narrator in his mid-thirties meets thirty-year-old J.P. (Joe Penny). Both men have been at Frank Martin's for a few days. During yesterday's breakfast, Tiny, a fellow resident who was looking forward to going home in time for New Year's Eve, had a seizure.

The narrator and J.P. sit on the front porch, smoking. J.P. tells of having fallen down a dry well at the age of twelve. He also speaks about how he met his wife, Roxy: after graduating from high school he was hanging out at a friend's house when Roxy, a chimney sweep, made a business call. After cleaning the chimney she invited the friend to kiss her for good luck (traditional). J.P. asked for a kiss as well, then asked Roxy out. They began dating and eventually married and had children. J.P. became a chimney sweep. For reasons unknown to him he eventually began drinking and fighting with Roxy. Roxy had an affair and J.P. cut apart her wedding ring. After being arrested for DUI, J.P. was brought by his father- and brother-in-law to Frank Martin's.

Frank Martin joins the men on the porch and tells how Jack London, who died of alcoholism, once lived nearby. The narrator recalls how his now-estranged wife brought him to Frank Martin's for his first stay there. He thinks about his current girlfriend, a secretary and the mother of a teenage son who dislikes him. The narrator and his girlfriend, having learned that she may have cancer, went on a drinking binge, after which the narrator convinced her to drive him to Frank Martin's for a second stay.

At Frank Martin's New Year's Eve party Tiny is noticeably subdued. The narrator calls his wife but there is no answer.

On New Year's Day Roxy visits the clinic. The narrator, seeing her kiss J.P., asks for a kiss of his own, "for luck." She kisses him and goes inside with her husband. The narrator, alone on the porch, remembers a happy Sunday morning when he and his wife were awakened by their landlord's painting outside their bedroom window. He recalls Jack London's story "To Build a Fire" and resolves to try calling his wife again, but, embarassed that he will need to tell her where he is calling from, decides to instead first call his girlfriend.