One evening, a fussy, conservative Dublin clerk known as Little Chandler sets out to meet his old friend Gallaher at a restaurant called Corless’s. Gallaher left Dublin eight years earlier and has made a success of himself as a journalist in London. On the way, Little Chandler fantasizes about succeeding himself, as a writer of poetry. At the restaurant, Gallaher tells Little Chandler about his adventures abroad; afterward, Little Chandler returns home to his wife (Annie) and baby son, where he fantasizes further about success as a poet, loses his temper with the child, and then feels remorseful.
