A group of strangers are trapped in a pub by rising floodwaters. Gary and Max, his autistic son, come into conflict with a caustic man, Carl, over Max's reading aloud as he practices his writing. From this encounter, the narrator learns that Max's writing has occasionally predicted the future. Two members of the group die over the following days just as Max predicted. As the floodwaters refuse to cease, the whole group gathers around Max, waiting to see what he will write next.
