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“The Storm,” like many of Kate Chopin’s stories, is set in a rural Louisiana town in the antebellum South. “The Storm” is subtitled “A Sequel to ‘At the ’Cadian Ball,” and the story of its main characters, plantation owner Alcée Laballière and Calixta, wife of a sugarcane farmer, begins about five years earlier. An understanding of “The Storm” calls for some knowledge of these events.
When they were young and single, Alcée and Calixta fell passionately in love while visiting Assumption Parish. Fearful that he would ruin Calixta’s reputation, Alcée left the parish. Later, at a ball, they meet again, slipping away to talk and flirt but are interrupted when Clarisse, goddaughter to Alcée’s mother, tracks Alcée down, pretending that there is trouble at his plantation. By the time Clarisse and Alcée reach home, she has convinced him to marry her. At the ball, Bobinôt, who has long admired Calixta, sees that she is distraught. In her anger at being spurned, she tells Bobinôt that she will marry him, but she refuses to kiss him.
By the beginning of “The Storm,” Calixta and Bobinôt are married and have a four-year-old son, Bibi. Calixta is a dutiful housekeeper, and the couple seems happy enough, although the story hints that both husband and son take care not to upset Calixta’s idea of a clean house. On the day of the story, Bobinôt and Bibi take shelter at Friedheimer’s store as a storm blows in. Bobinôt reassures Bibi that Calixta, home alone, will be fine. Bobinôt buys his wife a favorite food—a can of shrimp—to soothe her if she is upset by the storm or by their late return.
Meanwhile, at the house, Calixta is so engaged in her sewing that, at first, she does not notice the approaching storm. When the sky darkens, she hurries out to bring in laundry drying on the gallery. There she sees Alcée approaching on horseback. He asks to take shelter under the gallery roof during the storm, but soon they both realize that only the house, with the door shut and cloth stuffed under it, will keep them dry. Inside the house, Calixta worries about the storm’s ferocity while Alcée realizes that he finds her just as attractive now as he did years ago, first in Assumption and then at the ball. When lightning strikes a nearby tree, Calixta falls back in fear, into Alcée’s arms, and his passion for her immediately reasserts itself. He kisses her and reminds her of what they felt in Assumption, and she does not resist.
They slip into the bedroom, where, by the large, white bed Calixta shares with her husband, stands her son’s little cot. These domestic arrangements become meaningless as the lovers experience passion and delight beyond anything either has ever known. They are both astonished by the intensity of the lovemaking, and Alcée dwells on Calixta’s beautiful mouth, eyes, breasts, and throat.
As the storms ebbs away, they finish their lovemaking and lie, exhausted, in each other’s arms for as long as they dare. All too soon, Alcée must ride home, but as he leaves, he and Calixta smile and laugh, deeply happy and content.
Bobinôt and Bibi arrive home, taking care to clean the storm’s mud off their shoes and legs so as not to upset Calixta by tracking it into the cabin. They find her, to their surprise, in a cheerful mood, making dinner. She fusses over them in an uncharacteristic manner, and when Bobinôt gives her the shrimp, she is delighted. Over dinner, they laugh so much that even as far away as Alcée’s plantation, people can hear them.
At home, Alcée writes to Clarisse, who is in Biloxi visiting friends. Alcée’s affectionate letter expresses his willingness to remain apart for another month if more time on the coast would benefit Clarisse and the children. When she receives the letter, Clarisse is touched. She reflects that she prefers the society in Biloxi, the freedom she has there, and the break from marital relations.
The narrator ends the story by noting that, now that the storm has passed, all is well with every character.
