Las Vegas enters Devorah’s story as the destination of a private first-anniversary trip with Eli. The visit gives her an unexpected idea about their marriage, but the book presents the city less as a place explored than as the setting for a shift in how she imagines a possible way forward.

The Anniversary Trip

Devorah and Eli travel to Las Vegas for a hypnotist show on their first wedding anniversary. They keep the destination from their community because they expect disapproval: Eli tells his mother that they are going to California so Devorah can rest. The deception marks the trip as a rare private departure from the expectations surrounding their married life.

The Hypnotist’s Show

After the performance, the hypnotist offers services including help for people who smoke and hypnosis for weight loss. The examples stay with Devorah. Back at the hotel, she wonders whether hypnosis might help with the couple’s continuing difficulty consummating their marriage. The thought turns a show encountered on an anniversary outing into a possible lead on a deeply personal problem.

From Las Vegas to Manhattan

After returning to New York, Devorah makes an appointment with a licensed hypnotherapist in Manhattan. The practitioner charges two hundred and fifty dollars and expresses confidence that she can help. During the hour-long session, Devorah lies in a chair, listens to soft music, and follows instructions to breathe deeply; she does not feel hypnotized, though she leaves open the possibility that the treatment might have had an effect.

Devorah and Eli subsequently try again, and this time they are able to consummate the marriage, although the experience is painful for her. The narrative connects the attempt to the idea formed in Las Vegas and the later therapy session without establishing that hypnosis caused the change. In the arc of the location, Las Vegas matters as the point where a public performance prompted Devorah to imagine a new approach, not as a demonstrated cure in itself.