The Dead is a story about a man named Gabriel Conroy who attends a Christmas party thrown by his aunts. At the party, he dancing with a girl named Gretta. He is struck by her beauty and thinks about her for the rest of the night. The next day, he takes her for a walk and she tells him about a young man she used to love who died. The story ends with Gabriel realizing that he will never really know Gretta and that his own life is fleeting.