- Ames returns home after a discouraging and fruitless meeting at the church. He naps. It's dark when he wakes.
- Ames joins his wife and son on the porch, enjoying the mild night. They hear footsteps on the road.
- Jack approaches. Mrs. Ames invites him over.
- Ames tells Jack that his presence at home brings his father happiness. Jack says his father is a saint.
- Mrs. Ames takes her son to bed.
- Ames tells Jack he's also glad to have seen him. He means it.
- The two talk about Karl Barth.
- Ames says he admires Jack's tenacity. Jack says he wouldn't admire him if he knew his motives.
- Mrs. Ames rejoins the men. As they sit there, Ames imagines Jack as his son.
- Then Ames pictures all people as civilizations unto themselves. He thinks on the meaning of poverty and suffering.
- Jack and Mrs. Ames talk. She says people speak kindly of him.
- Jack says he feels like returning home has been like returning to the scene of a crime.
- Jack and Mrs. Ames talk some more. He thanks her, calling her Lila, and departs.
- Ames takes the "scene of a crime" talk as a joke, but he wonders how Jack really feels about being back home. He also notes that Jack seemed to relax while speaking to Lila.