The poem begins with the announcement that the movie star Lana Turner has collapsed. The speaker then tells us that the weather is bad – it's one of those slushy gray New York winter days. He recounts a small disagreement with the "you" of the poem – maybe a friend, maybe a lover – over the weather. The "you" thinks it's hailing, but the speaker insists that it's snowing and raining. The speaker tells us that he was in a rush "to meet you," but that the traffic was as bad as the weather. Suddenly, the speaker sees the headline of a newspaper: LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!
The speaker then starts thinking about the differences between New York and Hollywood in terms of the weather – it doesn't rain or snow there. He then compares himself to Lana Turner. He says he's acted as poorly as she has, but hey, he's never actually collapsed at a party. The poem then ends with the speaker's direct address to Lana Turner: he says "we love you" and commands her to "get up" from her collapse.