The narrator lives in a new subdivision, in one of the shining houses of the title. Her neighbors want to get rid of the old woman living in a run-down old house in the midst of the subdivision. The narrator does not agree.

“Oh, wasn’t it strange, how in your imagination, when you stood up for something, your voice rang, people started, abashed; but in real life they all smiled in a rather special way and you saw that what you had really done was served yourself up as a conversational delight for the next coffee party.”

And, from the very end of the story:

“There is nothing you can do at present but put your hands in your pockets and keep a disaffected heart.”