Summary

The story is told by Eileen, who is recounting the year she was 24 and ran away from home. She is an inconspicuous girl who is unremarkable physically but could be better looking if she put more effort into her appearance. However, she constantly frets about her appearance without any effort to do anything to change it. She is anxious and self-loathing, hating everything and everyone around her. Dressed in her mother's old clothes, she puts effort into making herself approachable, refraining from accessories.

Eileen then focuses the reader's attention to the last days of the old, angry Eileen, which took place in the last days of December in a cold New England town steeped in snow. The lack of sun and warmth freezes the snow, icicles forming on Eileen's porch. Her sidewalk is swept by the neighboring Lutherans, who leave a gift basket for Christmas...