The poem tells the story of a young woman who meets Bobby Birch in college. He seduces her and destroys her self-esteem. When she leaves him and goes home, Bobby abducts her in a rage. He stabs her repeatedly in the trunk of his car, believing that no woman leaves him. She wakes up to find it was just a nightmare, but the next day a news story reports that a man named Bobby stabbed his girlfriend to death under a birch tree after a fight, mirroring her dream. The poem ends with the young narrator happily playing as a child, grateful for her innocence.