Rosalie, a 50-year-old widow, finds her youthful manner diminished by the "organic phenomena of her time of life," or menopause.

She lives with her adult unmarried daughter and an adolescent son, both of whom juxtapose youth to her "superannuated" purpose in life.

She is later found in her bed unconscious due to a hemorrhage caused by what soon proves to be a fatal metastatic tumor in her uterus.

The setting for the story and Europe in transition after the First World War creates the old-fashioned and modern age comparisons which are developed strongly in the characters of Rosalie's family.

The graphic descriptions in female biology, symbolic and overt sexuality and death create a dark picture for life's twilight.