MacArthur and his sister grew up in a military family. MacArthur is the ideal son, beloved by his father. The father teaches MacArthur how to pack his own shotgun shells rather than buy them. When they were growing up, their father always shot his own game to feed the family, so they ate almost exclusively dove. When MacArthur turns 12 the family is  stationed in Italy and their father takes him to the shooting range and has him shoot fifty clay disks with the shotgun he receives for his birthday. The trip leaves MacArthur’s shoulder bruised from shooting so many times, but he doesn’t complain which makes his father proud for years to come. He later has him shoot in tournaments, the first of which he does not do well in and is chastised by his father. The next year he wins a place on the championship team though, which pleases his father. 
After Italy, they move to Governors Island in New York. During this time, MacArthur’s citizenship is questioned by the government because he was born in the Philippines. His grandmother also discovers a stash of lighters the family assumes he has stolen. These two events in conjunction cause MacArthur to fall from his father’s good graces. He is punished for stealing the lighters and has to pay for them using his Christmas money, leaving him to be ridiculed at school. He is granted full American citizenship, though, and later enters the army and is deployed in Vietnam. 
At the same time MacArthur is fighting in Vietnam, his sister is protesting the war and is employed graduate student teaching at a university. One of her students is a Vietnam veteran and offers her an ear cut off of a thirteen year old Vietnamese girl who had planted landmines around his camp. She declines the gift.
MacArthur returns from war around this time, living alone in the country. Much to his families dismay, he is unemployed and no longer eats meat. They ask his sister to visit him and figure out what his plans for the future are. During her visit, he shows her an ear, like the one her student tried to gift her. He received it as a present from his friend from the army, Dixon, who he plans to visit in Oklahoma, rather than going home for Christmas. Before she leaves, MacArthur gives the ear to his sister. She keeps it for five years, before leaving it in her car which she sells to a young boy traveling to California. The siblings’ family ultimately fractures and their father becomes an alcoholic, but MacArthur has finally found happiness creating a life of his own.