Mr. S. Yamamoto is an older Japanese man who has a very wide appearance. He sits on a seat in a train car and watches the flowers outside pass by. While he smokes a cigar, an African porter man walks up to him and explains that there is no smoking in the train. Mr. Yamamoto thanks the African porter man and removes his cigar. Mr. Yamamoto sits and watches an interaction between an American father and his son who is misbehaving. It makes him sad to watch the little boy misbehave and make faces to the lady giving the boy candy. Mr. Yamamoto believes this interaction and behavior to be characteristic of American people. He thinks about how Americans like to pretend to be like English people and English people pretend to have the power of God. The little boy he looked at earlier points to Mr. Yamamoto and makes fun of his eyes. The boy's mother tells the boy that Mr. Yamamoto is Chinese. Mr. Yamamoto thinks about how Americans are similar to Japanese people because some people are kind and others are not. Mr. Yamamoto turns to look out the window and watch the outdoors again. The setting reminds him of Japan. An old man and his daughter in a nearby compartment begin talking with Mr. Yamamoto. The old man's name is Mr. Jackson and his daughter's name is Celia. Mr. Yamamoto thinks the lake that they pass by is made of snow and they don't laugh at his mistake. Mr. Jackson explains that the lake is actually full of white salt and is called the Great Salt Lake. Mr. Jackson explains that his daughter is sick and that they are on the way to get treatment for her. Mr. Yamamoto shows the two pictures of his son and daughter, whom he is very proud of. Mr. Jackson and Celia enjoy his pictures and then depart from the compartment to get changed for the night. Mr. Yamamoto wishes that he could go bathe in a Japanese bath, but the train doesn't have one. He gets ready for bed and writes heartfelt cards to his children. As he goes to bed, he dreams of Japanese banquets. Suddenly during the night, Mr. Yamamoto wakes up to someone pulling the curtains back of his bed on the train. The person is Celia, who is sleepwalking. She takes off her clothing and climbs into bed with him, unknowingly. He notices her beautiful skin, but is also unsure of what to do. He decides to not wake her, afraid that she will scream and wake the others (and then the others will come to see a young woman with an older man). Mr. Yamamoto thinks of his ancestors and how the young woman reminds her of a geisha he once met in Tokyo. Mr. Yamamoto also thinks about how he has been very lonely since the passing of his wife several years ago. Eventually, Mr. Yamamoto goes to sleep and when he wakes up, Celia has gone. He looks out the window at the flowers and thinks about a saying his father once told him as a boy.