- The novel opens with sentences from what looks like a children's Dick and Jane grammar reader.
- The sentences feature a family of four: Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane.
- They focus on Jane, who wants to play.
- Jane sees a cat, but the cat will not play with her.
- Jane's mother laughs, but does not play with her.
- Jane's father smiles, but he does not play with her.
- A dog runs, but does not play with her.
- Finally, a friend comes along to play with Jane.
- This paragraph is then repeated word-for-word a second time, without punctuation.
- The paragraph is repeated a third time, without punctuation and with no spaces between the words.