Hamm treats his servant Clov poorly and when Clov does not immediately get him his sheet Hamm threatens to withhold Clov's food from him. Hamm asks Clov why he has not left him and Clov says he has been trying to do so.

Hamm and Clov also live with Hamm's legless parents Nagg and Nell, who live inside rubbish barrels. Nagg repeatedly tells Nell the same story about a slow tailor. Their routine continues with Hamm insisting that Nagg hear his story which is interrupted by Clov saying that there was a rat in the kitchen, but he only killed half of it. Discussion of the rat is postponed when Nell appears to have died, but Nagg's sadness is short-lived. Hamm asks Clov for his painkiller and Clov gives him enough to kill him before finally leaving.

1. "Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.
2. How easy it is. They said to me, That's friendship, yes, yes, no question, you've found it. They said to me, Here's the place, stop, raise your head and look at all that beauty. That order! They said to me, Come now, you're not a brute beast, think upon these things and you'll see how all becomes clear.
3. One must live with the times. Whom did you call when you were a tiny boy, and were frightened, in the dark? Your mother? No. Me. We let you cry. Then we moved you out of earshot, so that we might sleep in peace.