The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Han, Simon. Nights When Nothing Happened. New York: Riverhead Books, 2020.

Nights When Nothing Happened begins in Plano, Texas with the perspective of 11-year-old Jack Cheng. He has recently discovered that his five-year-old sister Annabel has been sleepwalking and he feels he must stay up all night to protect her. One night, he discovered she had left the house and he had to go outside and find her in the middle of the night. Jack was born in the Chinese city of Tianjin and lived there until he was five with his maternal grandparents. At the time, he did not want to come to the United States to live with his parents because he could barely remember them. When he arrived, his parents were distracted because his mother was pregnant with Annabel.

Chapter 2 features the perspective of Patty Cheng, Jack and Annabel's mother. She is caught in traffic on her way home from her job at Texas Semiconductor and has received multiple calls from her husband, Liang. He wrote her an email earlier in the day, detailing his concerns about their marriage. Patty is very focused on her work, often to the detriment of her family. Liang owns a photography studio, but his employees handle the daily operations and he stays home with the children. Instead of going home, Patty drives to the apartment building the family lived in just before Annabel's birth and parks outside, contemplating happier times in her life. She met Liang when he photographed her graduation from Nankai University. The first night they spent together, Liang had terrible nightmares and she calmed him down. This was the first of many nightmare-filled nights. Patty was given a grant to attend the University of Houston for her PhD, and the plan was for Liang to stay in China with Jack for several years before joining her. However, soon after she arrived, Liang begged her to secure his visa so he could come too. Patty falls asleep in her car and wakes up hours later. She returns home and initiates sex with Liang. Annabel has been sleeping with her parents but they are trying to get her comfortable sleeping in her own room. Patty checks on Annabel and hears her mumbling in her sleep as though she is arguing with her friend Elsie. Patty believes Annabel must be upset about something Elsie has done.

In Chapter 3, Annabel hears her parents arguing because Patty wants Liang to call her daycare and talk to them about Elsie. This fighting carries on for days. At daycare, Annabel initiates a quarrel with Elsie because she wants the stickers Elsie has earned for good behavior. They have just received a talk from the daycare teachers about the difference between a “good touch” and a “bad touch” (100). Annabel grabs Elsie's arm so hard she leaves a mark but claims it was a “good touch.”

In Chapter 4, Liang reflects on his childhood. His mother died when he was a child, and his father convinced him that she had left the family because of Liang and had gone to live on the moon. Liang walks home drunk from a poker game, planning to talk to Patty. He worries that his family is going to leave him. When he arrives at the house, Jack walks outside and finds him drunk on the lawn, struggling to remove his shoes. When Jack tries to help, Liang slaps his arm.

In Chapter 5, the Chengs throw a Thanksgiving party in which Elsie and her parents are in attendance. Jack admires Elsie's father and attempts to earn his respect by volunteering to go upstairs and check on Elsie and Annabel. He finds them quarreling and suggests a game of hide and seek. He hides and the girls cannot find him, so they go downstairs and beg the adults to help. Liang comes upstairs with the girls and Jack can smell alcohol on his father. While still hiding, Jack observes as Annabel locks Elsie in a closet. Liang tries to pull her away from the door and pulls too hard, causing Annabel to fall into her mirror and begin crying. Elsie emerges from the closet and says that Liang is “bad” (153). This makes Annabel angry and she tells Elsie that Liang is going to give her a “bad touch” (153). Elsie runs downstairs and tells the adults that Liang has given her a bad touch. Elsie's father asks Jack what happened, but Jack claims he was hiding and saw nothing.

In Chapter 6, the Chengs are visited by a Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworker conducting an investigation. Liang asks Patty to go for a drive with him and takes her to Elsie's parents' house. Before she can stop him, Liang gets out of the car.

In Chapter 7, Annabel moves to a new school. Liang is no longer living at home and Patty has told her that he is in China. The daughter of a friend of the family picks Annabel up from school and takes her to a donut shop next to her old daycare. Annabel sees Elsie's parents at the daycare and runs out of the donut shop, into the daycare, and right into Elsie herself. Elsie yells at her to stay away and Patty arrives on the scene to sort things out with Elsie's parents. That night, Annabel wakes up and sees her mother asleep on the couch. She goes to the front door but Jack stops her from opening it. She says she wants to go to China to find Liang. They leave the house together.

In Chapter 8, Liang is living in his photography studio, wearing an ankle monitor because he assaulted Elsie's father. Patty calls and tells him the children are missing, then picks him up so they can drive around looking for them. Liang remembers an afternoon he spent with Jack at the pond behind his old elementary school. They find the children at the pond.

In Chapter 9, the family returns home together. Both children are happy to have their father back, but the future of Liang and Patty's marriage remains uncertain.