Sportcoat is introduced via a brief account of his attempt to kill a neighborhood drug dealer named Deems Clemens. The residents of the housing project where Sportcoat lives, called Cause Houses, gather on the day after the shooting to speculate about why he would shoot anybody, much less Deems. Sportcoat is a 71-year-old gentle, well-liked man who is involved at his local church, Five Ends Baptist, so no one can figure out why the shooting happened.

Sportcoat’s wife Hettie mysteriously disappeared about two years before the shooting, getting up in the middle of the night to follow a mysterious light in their bedroom to a nearby harbor. Hettie’s body was later found in the river by another character, Elefante, and his men. Hettie supported herself and Sportcoat through her income, and Sportcoat hasn’t held a steady job in years (instead doing odd jobs to make ends meet); he is a habitual drinker and originally comes from South Carolina.

Hettie’s funeral is related in a flashback and accompanied by a description of the lives of various Five Ends church members as they arrive at the funeral. After her death, Sportcoat continues to “see” Hettie in visions as he goes about his life, although her personality and appearance have changed from what they were in life.