Henry Lee Timeline and Summary

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• Henry is a little boy growing up in Seattle during World War II. Because he's Chinese American, he's treated poorly by his classmates, who don't see any difference between him and the United States' sworn enemy, the Japanese.
• He's also having a hard time at home because his father and mother (who only speak Chinese) have insisted he only speak English in order to better fit in during this time of racial tension.
• At his otherwise all-white school, a new student shows up one day—a Japanese American girl named Keiko Okabe.
• Because Henry and Keiko are both the only minorities and are also scholarship students who have to do chores after school, they become fast friends and start spending all their time together.
• Keiko introduces Henry to her family and shows him around Japantown. It bothers Henry to see that Keiko and her parents are discriminated against, even though they're American citizens.
• One day, Henry's friend Sheldon—an African American street performer who plays the sax—is invited to play at the Black Elks Club with a famous jazz musician named Oscar Holden.
• Because Keiko and Henry are both huge jazz fans, they sneak in to watch the show and are delighted when Oscar Holden plays a song just for them called "Alley Cats."
• Their joy is interrupted when the FBI barges in and raids the place, rounding up Japanese American citizens. Keiko and Henry manage to get out but they're both terrified and disturbed.
• Sometime after, the recording of Oscar Holden's "Alley Cats" is released and Keiko takes Henry to buy it. When she comes up to the counter, though, the cashier refuses to serve her because she's Japanese.
• Henry has to buy it instead because he has on the "I Am Chinese" pin that his father makes him wear every time he leaves the house.
• Eventually, all Japanese Americans are taken from their neighborhoods and forced into internment camps.
• Japanese American citizens start burning anything that can link them to Japan, like family photo albums, kimonos, and Japanese flags. One night, Henry sneaks out to meet Keiko and take her family photo albums.
• He ends up hiding them in his bedroom so they'll be safe while her family is away at the internment camp.
• When all of Japantown is evacuated, Henry is devastated about saying goodbye to Keiko, but his father is pleased by the turn of events.
• Thankfully, the lunch lady at Henry's school gets a contract to set up the mess halls at Camp Harmony—the place where Keiko's family has gone—and hires Henry to go with her every Saturday and help out.
• Henry manages to get in touch with Keiko again and even celebrates her birthday with her. But all good things must come to an end, and they soon get news that Keiko's family is being moved to a camp in Idaho.
• When Henry says goodbye to Keiko, he wants to tell her that he loves her, but he chickens out at the last minute.
• He gets home one day and finds that his parents have discovered Keiko's photo albums. They're furious that he's been fraternizing with a Japanese girl, and his father throws the albums out the window.
• When Henry runs out to get them, his father says he is no longer his son. Henry is dead to him, and from that day forward, his father refuses to acknowledge or speak to him even though they live in the same house.
• Sheldon convinces Henry to travel to Idaho with him in order to find Keiko. When Henry gets there, he finally confesses his love to Keiko and asks her parents for their permission to court their daughter. They happily agree.
• Then Henry and Keiko kiss and he promises he'll wait for her on the outside, no matter how long it takes.
• When Henry gets back home, he finds that his father has suffered a stroke. Henry is horrified and feels guilty, as though he somehow caused the stroke. He tries to talk to his father, but his father just calls him a stranger. Nice one, Dad.
• Over the next few years, Henry continues to write to Keiko religiously, but her responses become few and far between, plus she seems confused in her letters—as though she hasn't gotten any of his letters.
• The girl who works at the post office always seems sympathetic to Henry's plight, and when he arranges to meet Keiko one last time, she shows up instead. She read his letter because it came back undelivered.
• Her name is Ethel and she's a Chinese American girl that his parents approve of; later, she becomes his wife and the mother of his only son, Marty.
• Because Henry's father is dying, he decides to go finish his schooling in China just like his father always wanted and to marry Ethel when he gets back.
• Henry's father dies before he leaves, but not without admitting to what he's done: He's the one who made sure Henry and Keiko's letters didn't reach each other.
• Years later, Henry is an old man and his wife Ethel has died of cancer. His son Marty is a university student and is about to marry a white girl named Samantha.
• Henry asks Marty and Samantha to help him search the basement of the Panama Hotel for things that belonged to Keiko and her family. They wind up finding the Oscar Holden record and Keiko's old sketchbooks.
• When Marty learns of Henry's past, he hunts Keiko down and puts his father in touch with her.
• Henry is unsure, but then he goes to visit Sheldon in the nursing home. His friend is on his deathbed, and he tells Henry to fix things with Keiko.
• After Sheldon's funeral, Henry's son buys him a plane ticket to New York City, which is where Keiko now lives.
• Henry shows up at her apartment and despite the decades that have passed, they pick up right where they left off.