Washington, D.C., brings Rachel Elliot into contact with both the family life she finds draining and the unexpected prospect of romance. During a visit for her nephew’s christening, she retreats from a formal gathering in Bethesda to explore the city, whose memorials and blossoming avenues briefly offer a different kind of company; the evening then brings her together with Nathan Kramer.

Setting and family visit

Rachel comes to Washington, D.C., for the christening of her four-month-old nephew. The gathering is arranged at the Bethesda home of her brother and his wife, where a planned dinner for sixteen has become a buffet and the rooms have been rearranged for the occasion. The house’s social performance—carefully prepared hospitality, aspiring political and lobbying guests, and a sister-in-law intent on managing the event—makes Rachel feel more like a bystander to family life than a welcome participant.

Her discomfort is not simply with the party. Rachel finds the noise and sudden shifts of mood around young children tiring, and longs to return to her newly painted Chelsea flat, where she can choose the tensions she allows into her life. Washington thus frames a contrast between the domestic world she observes at close quarters and the independence she has established elsewhere.

A day in the city

Rachel makes a tactical withdrawal from the preparations, using sightseeing as a pretext. The Vietnam War Memorial steadies her without cheering her, while the avenues of pastel blossoms in the central square mile strike her as more invigorating. She looks through the railings around the White House lawn, walks beside the reflecting pool, and climbs toward the Lincoln Memorial, where she sits near the marble president and considers the evening she would rather avoid.

An airplane on the busy flight path into the city airport catches her attention and sharpens her wish to leave. She has already attended the christening, and her visit with her brother has begun to pall. The city excursion offers distance from the party, but does not change her desire to go home.

Nathan Kramer and later travel

At the Bethesda gathering, Nathan Kramer is an unexpected pleasure. Rachel is attracted to him but approaches cautiously, wary of the self-recrimination she associates with casual sexual encounters. Their meeting gives the family visit an unforeseen personal consequence: Washington is not only the setting of an obligation she wants to escape, but also the place where a new attraction begins.

The city appears again in Rachel’s later travel plans. When Naomi Fullerton calls, Rachel says she is about to fly to America, first to Washington and then to Bermuda. The brief itinerary places Washington within Rachel’s work-related movement between destinations, contrasting with the earlier visit, which is remembered through family obligations, sightseeing, and her encounter with Nathan.