i
- Major Plunkett hates the weather of hurricane season. It depresses him, and he feels isolated from both his laborers and his wife.
- Maud tries to save her bulb plants in the garden, works on her embroidery, and tries to play Irish tunes on their piano—but it drives Plunkett to madness.
- He slams the lid of the piano and Maud retreats to her room to cry. Plunkett comforts her.
ii
- Plunkett and his wife take a tour of the island in their Land Rover and survey the damage from the storm.
- When Plunkett sees a volcano, he is reminded of the evil of Malebolge, the eighth circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno, and feels fear.
- Its sulfurous breath reminds him, too, of the mass graves at Auschwitz.
- They pass an old, abandoned sulfur mine and Plunkett wonders what happened to the partners whose names appear on the office signs. Had they fought? Died? Gotten a better offer?
iii
- Major Plunkett prefers the natural world on the island to that of his native England, which surprises him.
- Maud, on the other hand, kind of hates it—the wetness rots out the library and the piano, plus there are insects and obnoxious American tourists. Ugh.
- Plunkett is reminded of Helen when he sees a butterfly and recalls a moment when she followed him to Maud's garden to plead with him about the stolen dress.
- The narrator comments that the happiness and beauty of the place oppress them, Maud especially, who likens it to Eden before the fall.