They were the final seven stories Carver wrote before his death, and only appeared as a separate book in Great Britain.

No sooner does she move into her quarters then she packs her possessions into boxes (the story's title) in preparation to return to California.

When the mother finally heads back to California in her packed car, both she and her son realize that they are not likely to see each other again.

As the night moves on, the narrator is very much aware of the passage of time, and hopes to be able to catch some sleep before daybreak, when he needs to get up to go to work.

In the middle of the night, the narrator reflects on his relations with three women: his current wife, Vicky; his ex-wife, Molly; and the neighbor with whom he is having a sexual affair, Amanda.

The narrator had trouble dealing with Molly's breakdown—while attending a drinking party at an artist friend's house (Alfredo), he began to shake uncontrollably.

The friend said he would fix him a menudo, a Mexican soup made of tripe, sausage, onions, tomatoes, chili powder, and other ingredients.

A man who has recently lost his job asks the narrator, his brother, for money, assuring him that he will pay him back.

His son then tells him that he will engage in criminal activity to get money if he doesn't send it to him, so he continues to do so, but must live a much more restrained life himself, as well as needing loans to have enough for all the family members he must help.

Eventually, he sends all his relatives a letter saying that he will change his name, quit his job and go to live in Australia, and no longer be burdened by them; they respond in various ways- his son threatens to commit suicide, his mother says she will go back into work at the age of seventy-five, his daughter says she will get a job but needs more money to start up, and his ex-wife doesn't respond.

He walks along a road and feels more contented with his life as he does so; a colleague of his, George, then offers to take him to work, which he accepts, and he reveals he didn't pay for his car.

A man recalls receiving a letter from his wife years ago in which she explains her reasons for leaving him, and he repeatedly insists that it is not in her handwriting.

He has a great memory, but says he accidentally threw the letter away years ago, so he writes part of it out from what he remembers.

He meets her outside with a horse, a deputy and a rancher named Frank, and the parting occurs without any real problems emerging, although he sees tears in his wife's eyes.

He remembers a black-and-white photograph of her when she was three months pregnant as she leaves, states that he believes she will return to him, and then repeats that the letter was not in her handwriting.

He goes to Berlin to meet the physician Karl Ewald Hasse, but leaves in anger when he is told his case is hopeless.

His wife asks to be alone with him before news spreads, and Schwöhrer agrees to prevent anyone knowing temporarily and leave them.

Adam Begley of the London Review of Books assessed Elephant as "seven exquisitely crafted stories; all of them provide eloquent testimony to the authority of his prose.