When Mr. Grancy’s second wife, Mrs. Grancy dies, the unnamed narrator (a friend of the Grancys) is shocked. Mrs. Grancy was her husband’s support system and his sole source of happiness. Mr. Grancy’s first wife was self-centered and controlling, which made him miserable; when she died, and Mr. Grancy married the second Mrs. Grancy, he was finally happy again. All of Mr. Grancy’s friends thought that Mrs. Grancy was the perfect match for Mr. Grancy, and they marveled at how beautiful she was. It seemed that Mrs. Grancy revitalized Mr. Grancy, and in return, he brought out her youthful beauty.
Soon after his second marriage, Mr. Grancy commissioned his friend Claydon, an artist, to paint a portrait of Mrs. Grancy. The painting glorified her beauty, portraying her exactly as Mr. Grancy saw her. Soon after, the Grancys moved out of their New York City townhouse to a rural estate, where their friends gathered every Sunday in the Grancys’ library. Mrs. Grancy’s portrait hung in this room, and the others noticed that Claydon seemed to be in love with the portrait, gazing up at it whenever Mrs. Grancy spoke.
It was three years later, when the narrator is living in Rome, that he hears of Mrs. Grancy’s unexpected death. A few months later, Mr. Grancy meets up with the narrator while passing through Rome on his way to a new job as Constantinople’s secretary of legation. He puts on a brave front, but the narrator can tell that he’s grieving.
Five years later, when the narrator and Mr. Grancy have both returned to the United States, Mr. Grancy invites the narrator and their old friends over. However, Claydon mysteriously tells the narrator that he never wants to visit Mr. Grancy’s house again. Confused, the narrator decides to go to visit Mr. Grancy alone, and he’s surprised to see how much Mr. Grancy has aged. The house seems haunted by Mrs. Grancy’s memory, and the narrator is shocked when he sees that that Mrs. Grancy’s likeness in her portrait looks older. Mr. Grancy tells the narrator that he had Claydon alter the painting for him, so that Mrs. Grancy can age alongside him.
Over the next decade, Mr. Grancy falls ill and slowly deteriorates, almost dying one summer. When the narrator visits him during this time, he finds that Mr. Grancy has had Claydon alter the portrait again, making Mrs. Grancy look even older and as though she knows her husband is going to die. A few weeks later, Mr. Grancy dies and leaves Mrs. Grancy’s portrait to Claydon in his will.
A couple years later, the narrator attends Claydon’s latest art exhibition. When he goes into a curtained room off of Claydon’s studio, he finds Mrs. Grancy’s portrait hung on the wall, surrounded by fine collectibles arranged like a shrine. Claydon has restored to the painting to its original youthful portrayal of Mrs. Grancy, and he tells the narrator that Mrs. Grancy belongs to him now.
