Set on a coastal Virginia estate during harvest, the narrative opens with vivid rural scene-setting and the rhythmic songs of Black reapers. A young boy sits with his dog, Service, while an ungainly but mellifluous man named Bulstrode arrives and amuses them by reading Latin until the animal grows calm. Their easy exchanges introduce local figures and a contrast between sensuous enjoyment of the land and the more abstract pursuits of a neighbor absorbed in a system of philosophy. The prose dwells on landscape, seasonal music, social color, and intimate character sketches.