- Morris Bober, a grocery store owner, retrieves bread rolls and milk left for him on the curb.
- He lets an early-bird Polish customer into the store, out of the cold.
- After getting her a seedless roll, he returns to get the milk, then lights the gas radiators to heat the store. Brr!
- A girl of ten enters, asking for goods on trust that her mother will pay tomorrow.
- Morris says no more trust.
- The girl cries, and he gives in.
- Wanting to avoid any nagging from his wife, he doesn't record the new amount the woman owes.
- He reads the Jewish paper, waiting for customers.
- Nick Fuso, his tenant, appears later than expected from a hall door, carrying groceries not purchased from Morris.
- The milkman and meat provisions man make deliveries.
- Then come the bread man and cake man. The cake delivery man replaces stale bread with fresh ones.
- Leo, the cake man, tries to comfort Morris that business is bad all over.
- A woman from the neighborhood shows up. She is the first customer in a while.