Mr. Hoppy lives alone in a concrete apartment building. He is a retired mechanic who has always felt lonely, but now that he doesn’t work, he is lonelier than ever. He has two loves that sustain him. First, he loves his flowers, which grow on his balcony. He also loves Mrs. Silver, a widow who lives in an apartment below him. When she is on her balcony, he can see her from his as he looks down from above: “She was the object of Mr. Hoppy’s secret love” (10).

For years, he’s been too shy to tell her how he feels, but they make frequent small talk. He often finds himself wishing he could do something heroic to impress her. However, she is usually busy with Alfie, her tortoise. Mr. Hoppy is always jealous when he sees her petting Alfie, who has been her companion for years. Alfie lives on her balcony, where he has a small house year-round and is protected from falling over the edge by planks. When Mr. Hoppy watches her feed Alfie, “he [thinks] for the thousandth time how pretty she [is], how sweet and gentle and full of kindness, and his heart ache[s] with love” (18).