Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to war, torture, suicide, and death.

As the author, Hayslip juxtaposes the stories of her life in Vietnam during the war with her return visit to Vietnam as an American in 1986. In so doing, she recounts her earliest memories of the war with the French and the idyllic nature of her childhood between the wars with the French and the Americans. Hayslip was born in December of 1949. She explains the perspective of peasants in central Vietnam. Initially, in her village of Ky La, the war was perceived to be one of independence from foreign invaders. Early in the war, the Viet Cong treated peasants respectfully, while Americans and their Republican allies were more often cruel. In her early teens, Hayslip began performing tasks for the Viet Cong and assumed the role of sentry at one point. She was heralded for warning the Viet Cong of a raid by Republican soldiers.

However, after she was arrested and tortured, the Viet Cong became suspicious of her. She had been released from an infamous prison in a short time because her mother had paid a bribe.