The story is narrated by the unnamed wife of an independently wealthy theoretical physicist named Lancelot Stebbins.
Stebbins is a bitter man who feels frustration at his lack of fame in his chosen field, and after twenty-five years of marriage, his wife is increasingly unhappy with the state of affairs.
At one point when she had remarked that he could at least expect some fame when his obituary appeared, Stebbins responded by screaming that he would never get to read it, and then spitting at her.
Stebbins and his wife move the body to a room in the laboratory that has been arranged to look as though a reaction involving potassium cyanide got out of control.
Stebbins reads his obituaries with relish, and begins planning a career as the Great Man of temporal studies, to his wife's dismay.
On the third day, the body in the casket disappears on schedule, and Stebbins has his wife make him a cup of coffee to celebrate.