The speaker, in an isolated rural home, narrates a powerful storm. The wind, the storm's most forceful element, persists through the next day. In the morning, the speaker ventures outside the house, but quickly returns when he feels the wind's impact on his own body. Waiting for the wind to subsist, the speaker and another person—perhaps a lover, a friend, or a family member - sit in front of a large fire, powerless in the face of the catastrophic force that threatens to destroy them.