The unnamed narrator has just received an invitation to a memorial service for his old friend Vincent Chin, which he plans to decline. He notes that the invitation mistakenly reads “save the day” rather than “save the date,” and he wonders if an immigrant composed it.

The narrator recalls having been with Vincent Chin on the night of death. He was beaten to death by some men who, although he was Chinese, mistook him for Japanese. It was during a period of heightened tensions when Japanese car companies were being blamed for the decline of the American automotive industry. It was the night of Vincent’s bachelor party, which he was celebrating at a strip club where he was a regular. The narrator met Vincent in high school. Vincent had been born in China and felt somehow more Chinese than many of the people the narrator knew, but also had grown up in a predominantly white neighborhood, so he was also more comfortable around white people. He was a runner and was popular at their school.

The men who killed Vincent had claimed that the fight that led to his death was just a barroom brawl gone wrong, and after accepting a plea deal they served no prison time.