Martin has clothes in the dryer, and more in his arms, as he returns to the laundry room. Martin returns to find a woman that Martin has not seen before reading a book and doing her own laundry. An instant attraction is sparked in both. While chatting with the woman, Nina, Martin finds that his clothes that were in the dryer have been removed and are damp. Martin is very annoyed and expresses his rage at the idiot who removed his clothes and put their many pairs of pants into the dryer. Nina notes that Martin should have been there when the dryer was done, and she wouldn't have had to remove his clothes. Just then the dryer stops. Martin opens the door, Nina protests that the clothes are still wet, and instead of continuing the argument, Martin and Nina kiss and explore each other. The activity continues in Martin's apartment, and involves several days. Office mates, notably Toby, are annoyed at the missing Martin. While extremely happy, Martin and Nina's relationship suddenly

Despite the continuing distraction of a prior boyfriend, and the deep involvement in the protest movement, Nina and Martin are still together. Nina suggests to Martin that they take the next step in their relationship – an AIDS test.

Martin's apartment building is undergoing renovations, and there is a large hole in his outside wall. A thin sheet of plastic cannot block birds from entering the apartment. Bricks are set up to fill in the hole, but the landlady fired the contractors. Martin and Nina try to have a romantic dinner in Martin's apartment, but an emergency protest comes up, and Nina needs to join it. Nina uses the bricks from the apartment to fill up a factory's drainage pipe, and is arrested.