A married couple, Wakefield and his wife, lives in London. Wakefield tells his wife that he will go out for a journey for three or four day. Wakefield kisses his wife, and while he is leaving, he smiles to his wife. Instead of coming back, he disappears for twenty-year, without seeing from his wife and friends. Hawthorne leaves no clue why Wakefield leaves his house. Mrs. Wakefield thinks about his last smile and imagines him in many possible ways, such as he is looking pale and frozen in the coffin. She dreams of him in a heaven. She wonders that maybe she is a widow. Actually, he lodges in a house next street to his own house. He changes his appearance, buying a new wig, for disguise. Hawthorne describes, “He melts into the great mass of London life”. He observes his own house and sees a doctor going into his house. He gets excited whether his wife will die? Hawthorne explains that Wakefield is uncertain about whether he should reappear. He thinks about the day he wants to return home, but he put off from one day to another day until it is undetermined. One day, he walks in the town. The busy crowd forces him and his wife meet together; their hands touch, and they stare into each other eyes. Although his appearance changes so much that she cannot recognize him, she feels something and glances back to the street. Wakefield immediately hurries back to his lodging, throws himself on the bed, and cries, “Wakefield! Wakefield! You are mad!” Twenty years of living alone seems to feel less than a week for him. One evening while he is walking, an instant rain pour down and he get wet. He thinks that why he has to stand wet outside in spite of having a warm fire and dry clothes waiting him in his house. Finally, because of Habit and unawareness, Hawthorne suggested, Wakefield unintentionally steps into his own house.