July, 1956, Darlington
- The novel opens with Stevens very gradually coming to the decision to take up a vacation offer from his employer, Mr. Farraday.
- Stevens will borrow Mr. Farraday's Ford to take a tour of the West Country while Mr. Farraday is away in America for a few weeks between August and September.
- Stevens flashes back to a conversation he had with Mr. Farraday a couple weeks earlier, when Mr. Farraday first offered Stevens a vacation.
- He then flashes back to his first meeting with Mr. Farraday in the spring of 1955, after Mr. Farraday bought Darlington Hall from the Darlington family, Stevens's previous employers.
- At that meeting Mr. Farraday asked Stevens to figure out a way to run the house with only four staff members: Mrs. Clements, Rosemary, Agnes, and Stevens himself. There used to be way more people working at Darlington Hall.
- Stevens tried to make do with the shorter staff, but he kept catching himself making small mistakes.
- Around the same time Mr. Farraday makes his vacation offer, Stevens receives a letter from Miss Kenton, a former housekeeper at Darlington Hall.
- Stevens decides to take the trip, if only to convince Miss Kenton to come back.
- Stevens tells Mr. Farraday that he will take his vacation offer and visit Miss Kenton. Mr. Farraday jokes that Stevens has a "lady friend." Embarrassed, Stevens isn't exactly sure how to reply.
- Stevens recalls an earlier instance when he tried to crack a joke with Mr. Farraday and failed miserably.
- Stevens decides he must write to Miss Kenton to let her know he plans to visit.