Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s depictions of antisemitism, pregnancy loss, concentration camps, and wartime violence.

An unnamed narrator watches his wife sleep, reflecting on her impending death and the time they’ve had together. He goes into the kitchen to make tea and sees the first poppy of the year blooming outside; he thanks God for the gift. When he returns to his room, his wife is awake; he tells her about the first poppy. She asks to go to the top of the hill to see it, but the narrator asks to wait a few days until there are more of them, knowing he’s only trying to keep her alive longer. His wife grieves for a friend she lost in the war.

Ruby Henderson is sitting in a cafe in New York, where she is studying at university, miles away from her home in California. The families around her make her feel lonely.

Suddenly, a man enters the cafe and greets her. He introduces himself as Marcel Benoit. Ruby invites him to sit with her, and they immediately connect. They are married several months later, and Ruby moves with him to Paris.