Wesley is putting pieces of broken door into a wheelbarrow when his mother, Ella, enters, and the two begin to discuss the events of the previous evening which led to his father, Weston, breaking down the door in the first place. Wesley recounts the events as he saw them before leaving his mother alone, upon which she begins to talk about menstruation; what happens when a woman is having her period, and what she should or should not due for the duration of each cycle. Although she is alone when she begins to talk, she is joined by her daughter Emma part way through. Emma is still working on a poster that shows in detail the correct way to cut up a frying chicken. She becomes agitated when she realizes that the chicken for her class project is missing from the refrigerator and that her mother has already cooked it. She berates her mother because she worked hard on the project but when Wesley returns to the room he tells her that the project was a waste of time anyway; there are far more important things to be worrying about, such as whether their family is part of the starving class or not. As they talk, Wesley uses Emma's chicken posters as a urinal; seeing this she screams at him and leaves the room, threatening to take her horse and run away.
Ella wants Wesley to go after Emma and persuade her not to take the horse, but he doesn't want to; he doesn't care if she leaves or stays. Ella then starts to tell him that she is planning to sell the house, which does not please him at all. She reveals that she is planning to use the money from the house to move to Europe. She tells him that he is welcome to come if he goes after his sister, and she is welcome to come as well, but Wesley tells her there won't be enough money to move to Europe, and starts to chip away at his mother's dream. As he leaves the room, a muddied Emma, who has tried to leave but was thrown from the horse, returns. She tells Ella that she dreams of moving to Mexico. Ella does not mention her dream of moving to Europe.
If they're not part of the starving classes, Emma asks the refrigerator, then why is there never any food in the house? She tells the appliance that it should not worry because soon it will be filled with eggs, butter and other food. Shutting the door she turns to see a stranger standing behind her. He is in the real estate business and has come to meet with Ella about selling the house, which angers Emma enormously.
Act II opens in the kitchen; Wesley is hanging a new door and the two are talking about Ella, and wondering if she will return at all or run off to Mexico with Taylor the realtor. Wesley likens the real estate developers that Taylor works with to zombies who come into town and destroy it from the inside. He dreams of moving to Alaska. He thinks they will be safe there. When their father arrives home drunk, and learns that Ella is with a real estate developer, he tells them he has already found a cash buyer for the land. He is so angry to hear that Ella has a buyer too that he collapses in a drunken stupor.
Shortly afterwards, Taylor and Ella return with groceries that Taylor has purchased for them, and Wesley realizes that it was Taylor who sold his parents the worthless land in the first place. Shortly after they arrive home, the owner of the Alibi Club enters; his name is Ellis and he has purchased the house in cash from Weston already but Taylor argues that any deal that Weston makes is null and void because he is considered mentally incompetent by the state. Taylor intends to go to court to reclaim the deed in Ella's name and when he does so will purchase the land directly from her.
Weston is sober and clean shaven at the beginning of Act III. He is doing his own laundry. He tells Wesley that no matter who owns the house he intends to stay in it and do it up nicely. Ella is furious with him for changing so much overnight. He tells her it is the good night sleep that he got lying on the hard wooden kitchen table so she throws the folded laundry to the floor and lies down on the table herself. Wesley comes into the kitchen wearing his father's old clothes then begins to devour all the food in the refrigerator as if he is possessed by the need to do so. Weston can't seem to stop him from doing this and he cannot wake up Ella either. Emma, who shot up the Alibi Club the night before, has bonded out of jail by offering sexual favors to a guard. She decides that she enjoys crime and is going to make a career out of it. Ella, groggy but awake, tells Weston to go after Emma as she leaves but he is unable to because a small time thug named Emerson enters, having caused an explosion outside the house. He is the man to whom Weston owes money, tells them that they blew up Ella's car whilst Emma was sitting in it. Ella believes Emma to have left home on her horse and is not unduly concerned. Emerson leaves. The play closes as Ella and Wesley are staring at the carcass of the lamb in the middle of the room.
