Summary

In Chapter 4 Hang remembers her father and stories she heard about him after he fled her mother and the village. Hang’s father Tan left the village because he couldn’t handle the humiliation and injustice of the “Land Reform Act” and his brother-in-law’s disapproval. He leaves behind his mother, sister, and wife. He travels around aimlessly finally landing in a Muong village and marries the village vice president’s daughter. He lives in this village for over ten years living a peaceful and tranquil life, but never going back to his home village, his mother and sister—his first wife, Hang’s mother, long forgotten and left behind.

One day a traveling salesman comes through the Muong village. Per Vietnamese customs the visitor is greeted warmly and invited into their homes. They learn he is from the same village that Hang’s father is...