Sam wakes from a nightmare in which Laura is teaching a class on Ayn Rand and Charles Dickens. He is giving a presentation on the positive effects of capitalism regarding poverty. In the nightmare, Laura judges him, and the class accuses him of heartlessness. When he wakes, he realizes he is anxious about the gathering at Laura’s house and calls his sister, Ellen, for advice. She tells him to try to enjoy the challenge of swimming against a current, rather than allowing people to get under his skin.

He goes to Laura’s apartment and meets six of her friends from Yale. The evening focuses on a television show about a greedy businessman who’s taken down by an idealistic government worker. Sam, as Laura had predicted, is frustrated and irritated by the simplistic plot of the show. However, when quizzed about the economics, he decides to pretend he’s like her friends. He says the opposite of his actual views, and everyone seems to like him as a result.

After the guests leave, Laura is quiet, and Sam pushes her for praise for his agreeableness. Rather than grateful, she’s angry. She hates that Sam lied to her friends. Sam explains his thinking, that he wanted to see what it was like to get along with everyone instead of arguing all the time.