Part 1 Chapter 1 Summary

Thomas Fowler is a British reporter in his late fifties. He is covering the war in Vietnam in 1952, in which the French armies are fighting against the Communist Vietminh. The story opens with Fowler in his rooms over the rue Catinat in Saigon. He is with his beautiful young lover Phuong. They have been together for several years, yet mysteriously she is engaged to marry Alden Pyle. Pyle is a thirty-two year old American who works for the Economic Aid Mission.

Phuong is a simple girl who speaks little English or French. She has so little interest in politics that she would not recognize the name "Hitler." However, she loves to read about the Royal Family, especially Princess Margaret. Fowler thinks of her in terms of his comfort and physical needs: "she was a certain hour of the night and the...