The last thing James Rimington remembers in "An End to Dreams" is being given general anesthesia before an operation. As the story begins, he is looking up at himself in a mirror that appears to be held by a nurse. When he contemplates how strange that is, he is filled with terror. He then calms himself by deciding that he is alive "and over the worst." James recognizes that he needs a lot of sleep in order to recuperate before returning to work.

The next several passages contain scenes that slip through James's mind as he dreams. He wonders about how to fix a business deal and later about how he came to be so successful. Thinking back to when he was nine, Rimington remembers how ashamed he was of the patch on the jacket that he wore to school every day and how his...