When the novel opens, Miller is living at the Villa Borghese with his friend Boris. It is the fall of his second year in Paris. Miller introduces his book by writing: "This is not a book.
This is libel, slander, defamation of character. Most of the gang lives in Montparnasse, where many of the American expatriates in Paris make their home. Miller declares that the only thing that currently interests him in any vital way is writing. One night, tucked away in the vestibule of a dance hall, while Mona and Borowski were waiting for him on the floor, Miller tried to have sex with a nameless American girl. We learn that Mona has been away for some time and is returning to Paris.
Miller comes to meet her at the Gare St. He feels deeply in love with her upon seeing her again, and he sleeps with her that night in a cheap hotel.
Other memories follow. Miller remembers Germaine , a former lover and prostitute. He met her when drifting down a boulevard, some change his wife who was back in the States had sent him in his pocket. We learn that Tania and Sylvester are departing for Russia. Serge puts Miller up in exchange for English lessons. Before long, however, Miller can no longer stand the bug-infested mattress, and he leaves.
Back in Paris, Miller worms some money out of an acquaintance named Peckover, then slips away into the night. Next, he meets up with an old acquaintance β a wealthy Hindu pearl merchant named Nanantatee , who puts Miller up, hands him a pair of blankets, and enlists him to help with the daily household chores. Here again, Miller soon chafes at the constraints of his newfound abode, and yearns to make an escape.
