Set in the 1920s, Thomas Mann's novella tells the story of Rosalie von Timler, a fifty-year-old woman who, after the death of her husband, lives in Düsseldorf with her two children, thirty-year-old Anna and eighteen-year-old Edward.
The seemingly quiet life of the three characters is disrupted by the arrival of twenty-four-year-old Ken Keaton, Edward's English teacher, who is preparing for the Polytechnic. Young, energetic, and handsome, Ken reminds Rosalie that she is still a woman, despite menopause.
Anna, who has a congenital foot problem and a nonexistent love life, disagrees with her mother’s desire for the young man. In her excitement, Rosalie announces to Anna that she has her period again. Unfortunately, nature, which she loves so much, deceives her.
