The following version of this story was used to create this guide: Smith, Zadie. "Moonlit Landscape with Bridge." The New Yorker, 2014. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/10/moonlit-landscape-with-bridge.

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the page number from which the quotation is taken.

"Moonlit Landscape with Bridge" opens with its central character, the Minister of the Interior, looking around at a room in his house. He inspects the three suits that are strewn over a chair and imagines that, as soon as he is gone from the house, the household staff will rummage through his belongings "like wild beasts upon carrion" (1). He is pleased that he is able to take a miniature painting of Aer van der Neer's "Moonlit Landscape wIth Bridge" with him. The housekeeper, Elena, enters the room and the two discuss the difficulty of living in the current climate. They are from the same village and have known each other a long time. Elena attributes the devastating storm to the wind, and the Minister is secretly angry that the press have painted his country as unprepared for the disaster that struck. He tells Elena that, once he is in Paris, he and his wife will send for her. Before parting from her, he gives her money and reflects on what she used to look like when the two had an affair during the Minister's wife's first pregnancy.

In the car with his driver, Ari, the Minister observes his surroundings, which include fallen trees, broken windows, and drowned bodies. As they drive, people on the outside are constantly banging on the car, and the Minister cries quietly to himself. They approach a group of people who are all gesturing toward their throats to signal signs of thirst. Ari does not want to stop, but the Minister insists that they must, criticizing the "Christ doctrine" as too focused on right and wrong while he, by contrast, is a "student of human nature" (4). Ari pulls over and the Minister steps out. He opens his arms and shouts to the crowd that they have water. The people immediately rush toward him, and a man with a head wound asks the Minister to please help his family. The Minister gives him money, and the crowd quickly overtakes the vehicle. The Minister pulls himself up by the car's bumper and is able to maneuver back into the car. He has lost his shoe in the debacle and Ari hands him wipes to clean himself off.

Five hours later, the Minister is still in the car, and he asks Ari to pull over so he can relieve himself. Ari refuses, but the Minister accuses Ari of being hysterical and Ari pulls over in front of a church. The Minister leaves the car, goes to the bathroom, and notices another crowd rushing toward a vehicle. People in the vehicle are flinging sacs at the crowd, and the Minister wonders what kind of food is contained in the relief packages. He is suddenly caught up in the crowd as he tries to get back to Ari. A large man in a Red Cross uniform pulls him up and drags him to the car, where he and the Minister both get into the vehicle. The Minister tells the man to get out of the car, informing Ari that the man is not really a member of the Red Cross. The man threatens Ari with a knife and says he just trying to get to the airport, so he stays in the car.

As they continue to the airport, the Minister and the man discuss the circumstances of the disaster and the aftermath. The man tells the Minister that they actually know each other, and that they used to be part of a military effort that included the Prime Minister. The Minister continues to deny that he knows the man, who calls himself the Marlboro Man. Ari is able to deduce that the man has escaped from an infamous prison. The Marlboro Man continues to speak about how he knows the Minister, citing their time in their youth alongside the Prime Minister. He alludes to the Minister's involvement in an atrocity that ended with "a river of blood...up to the knees" (11). The Minister continues to deny out loud that he knows the man, but inwardly remembers the time the Marlboro Man is talking about. As they approach the airport, the Marlboro Man instructs them to drop him anywhere. As the Minister is ushered toward his plane, he hears his name being called out by someone in a crowd of people. It is the Marlboro Man, making a now-reviled hand gesture that signals their past alliance. Just before he boards the plane, it starts raining, but it only lasts a short time. The Minister proceeds to board the plane to Paris.