The unnamed speaker of the poem sits by himself in his house on a stormy night. Porphyria, his lover, arrives out of the rain, starts a fire in the fireplace, and takes off her dripping coat and gloves. She sits down to snuggle with the speaker in front of the fire and pulls his head down to rest against her shoulder. The speaker realizes for the first time how much Porphyria loves him. So…he strangles her with her hair. Then he opens her eyes, unwraps the hair from her neck, and spends the rest of the night cuddling with her corpse.