Olive Kitteridge

Harmon (no surname given) watches a young couple—Tim Burnham and Nina White—walking along Main Street. Sitting beside them in the marina, he overhears them discussing marijuana. His wife, Bonnie, disapproves of “potheads” but the couple’s ease excites and intrigues Harmon. He thinks about his sons when they were young: “[E]ach of his sons had been his favorite child” (78).

Daisy Foster lives alone in a small cottage near the marina. Her husband has been dead for three years, but last night, he came to her in her dreams. As Tim and Nina drive away, Daisy sees Harmon arrive—the two talk about Harmon’s sons and Daisy’s dreams as well as about Tim and Nina. They then embrace and go together to the bedroom.

Harmon arrives home and talks with Bonnie, who is making a wool rug. He thinks about how both of their bodies have changed with age. Since their children left home, Bonnie has gained energy for her hobbies, but at the same time, she has ended their sex life: she was “just done with that stuff” (82). Harmon considers his Sunday trysts with Daisy to be more of a “shared interest” (83) than an affair. He reads his magazine.

Tim and Nina enter Harmon’s hardware store; as Harmon sweeps, he listens in on their conversation. The couple leaves, and Harmon is struck by an uneasy feeling, believing that “the boy had shoplifted something” (85). The next day, Harmon calls his son Kevin. After a brief chat, Harmon asks Kevin if he is “smoking pot” and then about the term “fuck buddies” (85). Kevin laughs, and they discuss the young couple. Kevin assures his father that he is not “an old fart” (86). The next morning, Harmon and Daisy meet again, sharing anecdotes from their lives.

That October, Harmon reads about a drug bust in the local newspaper; he sees Tim and Nina’s names. That night, Bonnie returns from her book club, which Tim’s aunt also attends. Harmon is eager to hear what happened. The charges, Bonnie reports, will likely be dropped. Nina is sick, Bonnie adds; the young woman has anorexia, which has caused damage to her heart. Tim met her while following Phish around the country, which Bonnie compares with some disdain to those who followed the Grateful Dead.

Some time later, Harmon and Daisy sit together and talk about old relationships. Harmon returns home, and Bonnie instructs him to fix the gutters. He sits down and shares his regret that none of his boys wish to take over his store. Bonnie says that Harmon’s negativity is “driving [her] nuts” (91).

By November, Harmon begins to perk up. One Sunday, he visits Daisy, who tells him that Nina is staying at her house after a fight with Tim. Nina comes downstairs and greets Daisy and Harmon. She appears sick and begins to cry, afraid of returning to the hospital. She admits that Tim stole from the hardware store. As Harmon and Daisy try to get her to eat, Olive Kitteridge arrives, there to collect money for the Red Cross. Harmon makes conversation with Olive, who takes a doughnut, only to begin to cry, saying that Nina is “breaking [her] heart” (96). Along with Daisy and Harmon, Olive resolves to help Nina; they call Nina’s mother and, after many promises that she will not be taken to the hospital, Nina agrees to go with her. Harmon returns home and does not tell Bonnie what happened.

Harmon is affected by the incident; now, “the sight of Bonnie made him feel cold” (98). While conversation with Bonnie is stilted, he talks easily and frequently with Daisy, who speaks often with Nina. Harmon begins to feel as though Nina is their child. When Daisy sends Nina a card at Christmas, she signs it from her, Harmon, and Olive. After a lackluster visit from their sons, Harmon confesses to Bonnie that the holidays have left him “kind of blue” (100).

When Daisy next asks Harmon to come by, he realizes on arriving that something is wrong. Olive’s car is already there. Inside, Daisy is crying, and Olive is complaining about her daughter-in-law’s callous assessment of Nina’s situation. Nina has died of a heart attack after relapsing. Harmon arrives home late and struggles to eat his dinner.

Harmon receives a call from his son, Kevin, a few days later, making sure that “everything’s okay” (101). Harmon tells him not to worry. As he works, Harmon feels as though everything has become “close, and frightening” (102). After reflecting on the specter of loneliness, he confesses to Daisy that he has fallen in love with her. Though he had been expecting a “tender refusal” (102), she embraces him. Harmon is uncertain whether he will summon the courage to leave Bonnie or wait until she kicks him out; “he didn’t know which of the two would happen, but it would” (103).

In another story told via memory, Olive recalls one night in June, when an “awful thing” (104) happened to her and her husband in their late sixties. The event changes them both. The memory is triggered as Cynthia Bibber suggests crisis counseling, which Olive refuses. The event took place because Olive needed to go to the bathroom while driving home after dinner with friends.

Per Olive’s recollection, with no other options within 15 minutes, Henry stops at the hospital so Olive can use the bathroom. She runs into the emergency entrance, and a nurse points her toward the bathroom. When Olive is finished, the nurse insists that Olive should see the doctor, as only last night they lost a patient due to a reaction to the crabmeat she had eaten for dinner.

Reluctantly, Olive agrees to an examination. The strikingly young doctor seems polite and patient, but as she lays on the examination table, everything becomes a blur. Olive hears shouting, and someone tells her to get down. She sees “a tall man holding a rifle” (113), wearing a Halloween pig mask. She is marched to the bathroom at gunpoint and made to sit in her hospital gown next to Henry, the nurse, and the doctor. While one man goes to rob the hospital, looking for drugs, he instructs the pig-masked man to watch the hostages.

Henry proves unable to stay quiet. He criticizes the man’s foul language, and the armed man pushes the gun into Henry’s face. As the man grows nervous, though, he sits on the toilet and takes off his mask. Olive is stunned at how young he is, enough to almost be one of her students. Olive’s hospital gown slips open, and Henry pesters the man for something to cover his wife; the gunman shouts at him before looking at Olive and saying “Jesus.” This reaction infuriates Olive, but the gunman stands and reties her robe before sitting back down.

As tensions escalate, the nurse begins to recite her Hail Mary. Olive tells her to be quiet but is stunned when Henry sides with the nurse; this moment in particular sticks with Olive. She remembers saying “some things about [Henry’s] mother then” (121). Olive accuses Henry of causing Christopher to leave because he married a Jewish woman and “knew his father would be judgmental” (121). Henry, wounded, retorts that their son in fact left because Olive took over his life. The young gunman stands; Henry wets himself.

They hear police sirens. A telephone rings; police negotiators are on the line. The other gunman enters the bathroom and excoriates his accomplice for taking off his mask. Olive, on hearing the young man’s voice, worries that she will die. The gunman begins to weep, and just as Olive fears he may be planning to shoot himself, the police burst in.

At home, back in the present, Olive and Henry talk about the incident. Henry mentions that, in all their years of marriage, he cannot remember Olive ever apologizing. Olive is flustered. Henry tells her that they were both scared that night and that both said things they will eventually get over. However, Olive knows that “they would never get over that night” because “they had said things that altered how they saw each other” (124).