Hire (originally Hirovitch) is an isolated bachelor who works as a tailor, with no human contact outside his job beyond occasional visits to a brothel, a skating rink and a bowling alley. Though he talks to no-one and says he dislikes people, he observes them closely and in particular is struck by a young woman called Alice who moves into the building opposite and never closes her blinds. He spends his evenings secretly watching her, with more than just curiosity or lust because he has fallen in love with her.