The novel opens with a flashback to the beginning of the school year, when the narrator's mother is dying of a gunshot wound to the head. The flashback is interrupted by the sound of a trumpet, which reminds the narrator of a New Year's Eve party he has attended in the past. The trumpet sounds again, and the narrator realizes that it is the first day of the new school year. He realizes that the school has a small budget, so they have prepared a variety of food for the students to eat on the new day