The protagonist of the story, who is sort of an analogue of Melville, buys a house in Massachusetts. The narrator wants a piazza on it, but doesn't have one. So he gets a porch built. Then he sits on the porch and looks out over the landscape. He has a daydream about going out into the mountains and meeting an isolated woman named Marianna, who is lonely, and looks at his house from afar and imagines he's happy. Then the daydream ends and he's back on his porch, feeling sorry for himself.