Arn’s story begins in April 1975 in his hometown of Battambang, Cambodia, when the Khmer Rouge Revolution has just begun. Arn is eleven years old and the story is told as a first-person narrative through his vernacular English.

Arn describes music floating in the streets, everything from Cambodian love songs to American rock ’n’ roll. Arn learns that government forces are fighting “bad guys” who aren’t even considered real soldiers: “Only peasant in black pajama. Not even with real boot. Sandal made from old tire” (5).

Arn has a younger brother, four sisters, and lives with his aunt. His family used to own the opera house until his father, the star performer, was killed. His mother could not support them and moved away, so his aunt took care of the children. Arn is a hustler, and he and his younger brother make money by singing in front of the movie palace and selling ice cream on the street.

One day, trucks roll into town carrying black-clad soldiers. The soldiers proclaim themselves Khmer Rouge, or Red Cambodia. At first, the people cheer, because their arrival means the civil war, which began in 1970, is over. Soon, however, the Khmer Rouge announce that everyone must evacuate the city.