Character “Tim O’Brien,” a middle-aged writer, recalls when, many years after the war, Lt. Jimmy Cross visits him at his home. They spend a full day looking at old photographs and talking, recalling both good and bad memories of the war. “O’Brien” asks Jimmy about Martha. He is surprised when Jimmy produces the photograph of Martha playing volleyball in a small frame, because he thought Jimmy had burned it after one of his men died. Jimmy had, but he saw Martha years later at a high school reunion and she eventually gave him a replacement photograph. He had told her that he still loved her and was curious about why she never married but became a Lutheran missionary. She said she did not know, but she intimated that there was a reason why. All night long Jimmy told her about how he wanted to touch her knee. Martha told him that she could not understand why men did such things. After learning this, “O’Brien” steers the conversation away from Martha. As Jimmy is leaving, “O’Brien” says that he would like to write a story about their visit. Jimmy begins to ask “O’Brien” not to mention something in his story, but “O’Brien” interrupts him and says that he will not.
