When Morning Comes studies the mental agony of a sick, old woman as she reflects on her unrewarded life and relationships with her children while in the hospital. From the very beginning, the reader is curiously immersed in the old woman's initial preoccupation with the noisy, old fan and then plods on to discover the emotional discord and confusion that befalls the old woman as she reflects upon life and the family she loves.
The story ends in the strangest way back to the old fan which promulgated the old woman's concern at the very beginning of the story. Even the Grim Reaper learns that not all lives are to be taken so easily all the time...