On the morning of 2nd March 1921, Somerset Maugham (Willie) wakes choking from a nightmare of drowning at Cassowary House in Penang, where he and his secretary Gerald are guests of his old friend Robert Hamlyn and Robert's wife Lesley. Willie is shocked by how diminished Robert has become — stooped, balding, leaning on a cane — and notices a wary, closed-up quality in Lesley. At breakfast, Lesley pointedly inquires about Gerald and excuses herself from showing Willie the sights, citing church bazaar duties.

Willie explores the garden, admiring an ancient raintree and noting the watercolours of local shophouses on the landing, all painted by Lesley. He sits on a bench under a casuarina tree with his journal, resolving not to work but only to rest, swim, and read after a difficult journey through the Federated Malay States. He recalls fragments of a recent traumatic trip from Kuching that he cannot bear to reread.

Lesley brings him forwarded mail, including a letter from his estranged wife Syrie (which he ignores) and a parcel containing the first copy of his new book, On a Chinese Screen. A letter from his New York lawyers then delivers devastating news: Trippe & Company, where he had invested his entire fortune of £40,000, has collapsed, leaving him ruined. He hides his shock from Lesley, blaming colitis from Java.

To deflect her concern, Willie shows her the book. Lesley, surprisingly, asks pointed questions about his travels in China and whether he encountered Dr Sun Yat Sen, revealing that she and Robert met Sun several times when he was in Penang a decade earlier raising funds for his revolution. Her bitterness about China's continued suffering intrigues Willie, who begins to sense she may be material for a novel. After she leaves, Gerald calls down cheerfully from his window, while Willie sits crushed by the realization that he must write again — for money — after all.