The story begins at the theatre where the unnamed protagonist is watching a movie. At the first sight, he finds it too old-fashioned, with all the decorations and clothes but as the movie goes on he realizes that it is a story of his parents, of how they engaged. He is watching his father walking along the streets to the house of his mother where her family is having a dinner. There everyone greets him friendly and the father feels exultant – everyone seems to be satisfied with the future son-in-law. Finally the two beloved go out and spend a day together.
They walk along the beach and watch the ocean; then they ride on the merry-go-around and finally when feeling hungry they go to a rather respectable restaurant. At the table the father starts talking about his business how it is prospering, and about his future. One thing that he misses is family so he has a wish to start a family as almost all his friends have families and they seem very happy, so the father wants to have a family too and be happy. Then he asks the mother for a dance and in the waltz he proposes. She surely agrees, though with little sobbing because of being deeply moved. The father finds it inappropriate but says nothing.
At that moment, the protagonist jumps up from his seat and cries that they should stop as nothing good would come out of it – only scandals, miserable family and children with monstrous characters. The old lady sitting by him says him to calm down as it is only a movie. The protagonist leaves for a man’s room to fresh up.
When he returns there goes a scene when those two are in a photographer’s booth to take a picture. The father starts feeling very annoyed as it takes too long and finally grumbles at the photographer and they leave. Next they go by a fortune-teller’s booth and the mother wants to come in but the father does not want to and says it is stupid. After the quarrel they come in but father finds it all intolerable and again after a quarrel he goes away leaving the mother alone in the booth.
At that moment the protagonist starts yelling again and is held out by the usher. After a second he wakes up in his room on the morning of his 21st birthday.
