"Souvenir" is related by an omniscient narrator. This narration is occasionally supplanted by dialogue between characters. The story begins with the information that the story's protagonist, Kate, has always sent her mother a Valentine's Day card, timed to arrive precisely on the holiday. This year, however, Kate has forgotten until it is too late for a timely mailing. She waits until the evening of the holiday and telephones her mother instead. Their conversation provides insight into their professional lives and their relationship.

The next morning, Kate's brother Robert phones to tell her that her mother is in the hospital. Kate flies to the hometown that Robert and her mother never left and meets her brother at the hospital. He insists that they keep from their mother the truth about her condition: that she suffers from a possibly malignant brain tumor and that the surgery itself may...