The play takes place over the course of a single evening in the living room/kitchen of an isolated house shared by Jessie and her elderly mother Thelma. This evening, Jessie has carefully organized the house and made other detailed preparations for the future while explaining the changes to Thelma, who does not immediately notice anything unusual. Finally Jessie asks where her late father's pistol is stored; Thelma tells her. Only after Jessie retrieves the pistol does Thelma question Jessie's strange behavior. Jessie explains that she intends to commit suicide at the end of the evening.
Thelma, horrified, at first assumes Jessie is unhappy with their life together. Jessie calmly assures her that she is simply tired of living and has been for some time. Thelma speculates that Jessie's unhappy marriage, her divorce, her criminal son, the loss of her father, her epilepsy, or the pity and distaste other people feel toward her illness, are at the root of her depression; Jessie likewise dismisses these reasons, stating that her motives are purely her own and have nothing to do with other people, including Thelma. Gradually the two reveal long-hidden truths to one another: Thelma admits that Jessie's seizures began in early childhood, but went untreated for decades with Jessie herself unaware of her symptoms, while Jessie confesses the true causes of her failed marriage. Throughout it all, Thelma occasionally bursts into hysterics in which she attempts to reason with Jessie. Jessie deflects her mother's reasoning by continuing to calmly explain the mundane responsibilities that Thelma must assume once Jessie is dead including what to do in the immediate aftermath of her suicide. Thelma rejects all of it, believing that Jessie will give up her plans if Thelma refuses to cooperate, but Jessie says she will kill herself regardless.
By the end of the evening, Thelma concludes that she has never really known her daughter and realizes that their long conversation has altered the nature of their relationship, but Jessie, stating that it is now time for her to go, says "'night, Mother," before locking herself in her room. As Thelma begs and beats the door, the gunshot rings out, shocking Thelma to silence. After a moment to collect herself, she begins to carry out the instructions Jessie left for her.[3]
