“The Quilt” opens with an unnamed first-person narrator commenting on how, when she throws a quilt over herself in winter, the shadows the quilt makes on the wall appear to sway like an elephant. The image evokes a terrifying memory of when the narrator was a little girl and her mother went away for a week, leaving the narrator with the mother's adopted sister, Begum Jaan. The mother left the narrator because she was always getting into fights with boys.
The narrator tells the story of how Begum Jaan has an arranged marriage to Nawab Sahib, a Muslim nobleman whom the public considers virtuous because no one ever sees dancers and prostitutes visiting his house. However, the nawab keeps an open house for young male students to live with him while he pays their expenses.
Because of the nawab's implied homosexuality, he ignores his wife's sexual needs and sequesters her to a section of the house. She tries in vain to seduce him, but eventually, after finding her life force wasting away, Begum Jaan is brought back to life by Rabbu, her hired masseuse. Rabbu massages Begum Jaan constantly. She is beside her at all times and even sleeps next to her. Begum Jaan has a persistent itch that no doctors can cure. Only Rabbu can scratch the itch—a euphemism for the need for sexual release. The maids in the household gossip about Begum Jaan's dependence on Rabbu, but Begum Jaan is oblivious: her existence is centered on her itch.
The narrator, as a child, comes to stay with Begum Jaan, whom she loves and finds very beautiful. Begum Jaan is fond of the narrator as well. The narrator sleeps in the same room as Begum Jaan and Rabbu. She finds Rabbu ugly.
The narrator wakes up when Begum Jaan's quilt shakes. In the darkness, the quilt looks like it conceals a struggling elephant. The narrator says Begum Jaan's name and the quilt stops shaking; it deflates. Begum Jaan tells the narrator to go to sleep. The narrator says she is scared, and when she hears a second voice in the room, she says she thinks a thief has come in. Rabbu—the second voice—answers that there is no thief.
In the morning, the narrator has forgotten about what happened in the night. The next night, she hears Rabbu and Begum Jaan arguing in subdued tones. Rabbu cries, and then the narrator hears the slurping sound of a cat licking a plate.
The next day, Rabbu leaves to visit her son, who earlier stayed with the nawab but ran away after an undisclosed incident. With Rabbu gone, Begum Jaan is distraught. She won't eat and mopes all day. At night, the narrator offers to massage her adopted aunt. Begum Jaan lets her, and accepts the massage while lying quietly.
The next day Rabbu still isn't back. Begum Jaan grows irritable and her head aches. The narrator massages her again, and Begum Jaan expresses her satisfaction with sensuous breaths. While chatting about buying things from the market, the narrator barely notices when Begum Jaan directs her hand to where Begum Jaan itches.
The narrator jerks her hand away when she realizes the intimate spot she is touching. Begum Jaan laughs and makes the narrator lie next to her. She begins touching the narrator inappropriately, counting her ribs despite the narrator's protests and attempts to wriggle away. An intensity builds in Begum Jaan's eyes and a scent rises from her body. A strange fear overcomes the narrator. Begum Jaan presses her as though she were an object. Eventually, Begum Jaan lies back, breathing heavily. The narrator leaves the room and is thankful when Rabbu returns that night.
The narrator continues to stay in Begum Jaan's house. She tries to avoid Begum Jaan and the nameless terror she feels around her by spending time with the maids. Begum Jaan makes the narrator sit next to her while she washes herself, and the narrator can't look at her body. Begum Jaan tries to offer the reticent narrator a gold necklace and sweets from the market, but the narrator insists she only wants to go home. Rabbu covertly reprimands Begum Jaan for being so pushy with the narrator, and Begum Jaan flies into a fit.
That night, Begum Jaan has calmed down. In the bedroom, the narrator notices Begum Jaan's quilt swaying and shaking again. She switches on the light. The people under the quilt—Begum Jaan and Rabbu—somersault forward. The narrator glimpses under the corner of the quilt. What she sees causes her to gasp, "Good God!" She then sinks deeper into her bed.
