- As the curtain rises, the stage directions tell us that we're looking at the inside of a tenement apartment in an African-American ghetto in New York City.
- The two main characters, identified by their respective races, Black and White, are seated at a table in Black's apartment. White is dressed in running clothes.
- They begin talking about what happened this morning—Black suggests that he's supposed to help White, who is a University professor, in some way.
- The Professor is skeptical, and doesn't think there's any reason for Black to help him, or any greater reason why he happened to land in Black's arms before he could kill himself. In his view, people do more harm than good by trying to help perfect strangers.
- White offers to go, but Black tells him to stay. He asks him why he thought of killing himself today, if it is special for some reason. It happens to be White's birthday, though White denies that's significant.
- White puts his coat on to leave, and Black comments that he has an unusual method of putting on a coat, which they then discuss briefly.
- Black goes to get his coat, too, saying he'll follow White home if he tries to leave.
- White doesn't want him to, and Black jokes about whether they let black people into White's apartment building.