“Green Coffee Girl” is a term used in postwar Vietnam to refer to sex workers who often frequented coffeeshops. While on a walk one day after the war, Kien sees a man abusing a “Green Coffee Girl,” so he goes to her aid and fights off her aggressor. Later, he realizes that he knew her brother from the war—in fact, Kien was the one to deliver the news of her brother’s death. The “Green Coffee Girl” offers to have sex with Kien as a way of thanking him for his protection, but he simply gives her a place to rest and some money before seeing her out.