Part 3: Chapter 1 Summary

The Wheelers consult the calendar to figure out the date of conception, then figure out that they have several weeks in which to make a decision about the self-induced abortion. In that period of time, Frank Wheeler goes on an all-out campaign to change his wife's mind. There are long discussions in exotic restaurants and on long drives through the woods and in New York as they try to regain the upper hand on what has become a hot emotional issue and to behave like the chic, sophisticated adults they believe themselves to be. April repeatedly asks Frank how he would feel even if they were able to take long vacations someday in Europe with his income as a successful employee of Knox Business Machines; she wonders whether Frank wouldn't feel that he'd somehow been forced to spend the prime years...