The play begins with three women in a "wealthy" bedroom that belongs to A, a 92 year old woman. B is 52 and looks at A would have at her age. C looks as B would have at 26. Throughout the first Act, A reminisces about her life. It appears B works there and helps A do everyday tasks that have become almost impossible in her old age. A slips in and out of knowing what she is talking about and finds herself weeping at memories about her life. The first Act ends with A suffering a stroke.
Act II begins with A lying in beg with a breathing mask over her mouth and nose. But, this is a mannequin that replaces A. In this Act A is the same age, but capable of moving. All three are dressed differently. We learn that A, B and C represent the same woman at different points in their life. The Act serves to allow C to discover what is to come from her future life as A and B. And, her future looks...difficult according to A and B. She marries a short, one-eyed, philandering man who eventually dies after a six year battle with prostate cancer. C learns that she will have an affair with the stable boy and that her son will see it happen. That she won't be able to control his behavior, that he sleeps with her niece-in-law and nephew-in-law in the same week. That her and her son will be at each other's throats for years until one day he just walks out on her and his father without a word. He only returns 20 years later when his mother is very ill. He didn't come home for his father's funeral.
A tells C and B of how she accepted their son back, but that she never forgave him. The son enters the room and sits with the mannequin of A until A begins to speak directly to him causing him to weep. C asks the women when are the happiest moments, have they already passed for her, or are they to come. A tells her that the happiest moment is when it all stops at the very end.
