In a small town in Colombia, in the late 1950s, an unnamed former military colonel and his wife live in poverty. The novella begins in the morning, when the colonel makes the last "little spoonful" (3) of coffee for his wife, who is recovering from an asthma attack. The colonel brings the coffee to his wife as a bell rings outside, announcing a funeral. His wife thinks "about the dead man" (3) and remarks that the dead man was born "exactly a month" (3) after her and the colonel's son, whom has also recently died.

It's October and the weather is perpetually damp. The colonel feels "the sinister month again in his intestines" (4). He unhitches his pet rooster from the bed and brings it with him into the living room, which is much larger than the "narrow" (4) bedroom. The colonel hitches the rooster to the kitchen stove's leg then begins to wind his clock. Some neighborhood children come into the kitchen through a "hole in the fence" (5) and sit watching the rooster. The colonel tells them not to, but they don't listen to him.

The colonel goes into the bedroom to get dressed for the funeral.