The short story opens through a conversation between the two leading characters, Enn and Vic. Vic introduces the idea of attending a house party later that night, to which Enn initially declines. Following the friends’ conversation, the readers are immediately provided with a brief background on the two boys through the narrator as he outlines their divergent personalities: Vic, the "ladies' man" who has had many girlfriends;  and Enn, who hardly has had any experience with girls to begin with—with the exception of three of his sister’s friends.

The boys make their way to the house party, eventually losing their way. Enn swiftly uses this as an opportunity to try and opt out of the plan, until Vic suggests to just walk down the road to look for the location. As they walk past narrow houses and newsagents, Enn states that getting together with girls was not a problem for his friend; one urchin grin from Vic and he could have his pick of the room. To which Vic replies, “You've just got to talk."—an effort Enn clearly struggles with. 

Shortly afterwards, the faint pulsing of music is heard as the friends walk the curve of the road—Enn’s hopes that the party would prove unfindable soon began to fade. As the boys reach the house, they are greeted by a young girl described to be beautiful and having golden, wavy hair. Vic introduces themselves as friends of Alison, to which the girl replies “No Alison.” Nonetheless, she invites them into the house—the girl introduces herself as Stella. Eventually, Vic soon becomes preoccupied with Stella, leaving Enn to wander around the party with a Coca-Cola in hand.

While exploring the house, Enn soon encounters the conservatory wherein he meets a white-haired girl named Wain’s Wain. Sitting down beside her, Enn tries to converse in small talk—Wain’s Wain illustrates her status as a second, as well as her obligation to report back to her progenitor her impressions on “this place of yours.” Clearly puzzled, Enn asks Wain’s Wain to dance, to which she counters saying that she is not permitted to do so. Enn then advances to offering her something to drink, to which she requests a cup of water. He shortly leaves to the kitchen to comply, and returns to find that Wain’s Wain has gone.

Wandering into the living room, Enn takes a seat beside a gap-toothed, dark-haired girl and offers her the unused cup of water. The girl hesitatingly takes it, as Enn notes that it was “as if she were unused to taking things.” The girl starts a conversation with him saying that she loves being a tourist—chattering about her adventures going on the sun and swimming with whales. Enn notably does not actively listen to the girl’s stories, as he instead thinks of ways to get closer to her. He eventually does, and wraps an arm around the girl. 

Vic then appears, notifying Enn that they were at the wrong party. As the latter considers leaving, Vic insists that they stay, eager to spend more time with his new girl Stella.

As Enn returns back to the living room, he finds that several other people have taken his place on the sofa beside the gap-toothed girl. Defeated, he finds his way back to the kitchen where he meets a girl named Triolet—noting that her hair was a coppery auburn, tumbling around her head in ringlets. The two converse as Triolet explains to Enn the origins of her kind: that she is a poem, pattern, and a race of people whose world was swallowed by the sea, combined into one.

As they converse, the two edge closer to each other. Triolet leans into Enn and kisses him, in a way that is as if she has marked him as her own. The girl then offers to present a poem, to which Enn agrees. Although the Triolet’s poem is of a language foreign to him, Enn understands it completely, stating that he saw visions of the poem’s message in his mind’s eye. Enn only knew one thing at this point: that he wanted to kiss Triolet even more.

Enn soon gets pulled out of his trance by the Vic’s violent shaking. Shouting at Enn with fury in his voice, Vic hurriedly urges his friend to leave the party with him. Although Enn is puzzled by this, he does not resist; from experience, he knows how violent Vic can get when angry. As they leave the house, Enn looks over his shoulder to see Stella at the top of the stairs—with all the anger of the universe in her eyes. 

The two boys ran away from the house until they were unable to run any longer. As they attempt to catch their breath, Vic throws up and mentions “"She wasn't a—”. He soon stops and rambles on about the dangers of going as far as you dare, and he states seeing things in the house he was not meant to see. He stops and eventually succumbs to tears, leaving Enn.

It is also worth noting that because the short story is set in the 1970s, social media is nonexistent. Due to this, children would have to make the effort of leaving the comfort and security of their homes in the case they wanted to socialize with other people their age. This is the main reason the two main characters attend the house party: expecting to meet girls their age as they both come from an all-boys school.

The story’s leading character Enn generally views women as passive objects, most likely influenced by his childhood experiences and upbringing. To prove this, Enn questions Vic’s friendly advice to “just talk to them”. In the same way, girls’ voices are undervalued (if heard at all) in the real world: it is an expectation that women keep their positions in society, posing consequences for their futures and limiting their ability to reach their ambitions as they yield to their role in the household.

As a young woman, the piece greatly resonated with me as I have also faced experiences similar to the girls in the story. The story calls attention to the real-life perception of women, wherein they are seen as passive and less assertive than their male counterparts, as well as the maltreatment of young girls—as highlighted by the two friends’ objective of attending the house party to experience sexual interactions with the girls.