Summary

The narrator tells the reader about his friend Santiago Nasar and the day of Santiago’s death. The narrator is speaking to Santiago’s mother and recalling his own memories of that fateful day. Santiago’s mother Plácida tells the narrator Santiago was the man in her life. Santiago was her only child and his father had died a few years earlier.

On the day of his murder, Santiago awoke from a dream about trees and rain. He had a headache and a metallic taste in his mouth but brushed it off as the side effects of a long night of celebrating at the wedding he had attended the night before.

Because of the arrival of the bishop, Santiago put on his special occasion outfit—a white shirt and white linen pants. If the bishop were not coming, Santiago would have worn his work outfit...