The story’s central protagonist is a 1940s housewife named Irene. She is described as a “plain girl” (33) who lives an average existence on the east side of Manhattan. She is also a meticulous and proud individual. She feels great levels of satisfaction for all the work she has accomplished to select the furnishings in her home. She has a maid to help with housework and childrearing. With a domestic servant in the house, Irene can spend much of her time pursuing leisurely activities. Although she often goes out to the theater and to luncheons with friends, she spends a good deal of her free time listening to classical music on the radio in her home.

Irene has lived a sheltered existence. She finds herself in the bustle of New York City, yet her understanding of the human experience is shortsighted and superficial. She is an uncritical individual “upon which nothing at all had been written” (33). That all changes when an intruder, in the shape of a home radio set, is brought into her house. With this intruder’s help, she can listen in on the personal stories of her neighbors. Irene quickly becomes obsessed with this voyeuristic enterprise, an activity that offers her a deeper, more complicated understanding of the world.