Amir recalls an event that happened twenty-six years before, when he was still a
boy in Afghanistan, and says that that made him who he is. Before the event, he lives in
a nice home in Kabul, Afghanistan, with Baba, his father. They have two servants, Ali
and his son, Hassan, who are Hazaras, an ethnic minority. Baba’s close friend, Rahim
Khan, is also around often. When Afghanistan’s king is overthrown, things begin to
change. One day, Amir and Hassan are playing when they run into three boys, Assef, Wali,
and Kamal. Assef threatens to beat up Amir for hanging around with a Hazara, but Hassan
uses his slingshot to stop Assef.
The story skips to winter, when the kite-fighting tournament occurs. Boys cover
their kite strings in glass and battle to see who can sever the string of the opposing
kite. When a kite loses, boys chase and retrieve it, called kite running. When Amir wins
the tournament, Hassan sets off to run the losing kite. Amir looks for him and finds
Hassan trapped at the end of an alley, pinned with his pants down. Wali and Kamal hold
him, and Assef rapes him. Amir runs away, and when Hassan appears with the kite, Amir
pretends he doesn’t know what happened. Afterward, Amir and Hassan drift apart. Amir,
who is racked by guilt, decides either he or Hassan must leave. He stuffs money and a
watch under Hassan’s pillow and tells Baba that Hassan stole it. When Baba confronts
them, Hassan admits to it, though he didn’t do it. Shortly after, Ali and Hassan move
away.
The story jumps to March 1981. Baba and Amir are in the back of a truck as they
escape from Kabul, which was invaded by the Soviets and has become a war-zone. After a
hellish journey, they make it to Pakistan. Two years later, Baba and Amir live in
Fremont, California. While Baba works at a gas station, Amir finishes high school and
goes to college. Baba and Amir sell things at a flea market on Sundays, and Baba sees an
old friend, General Taheri. Amir notices General Taheri’s daughter, Soraya. When Amir
finally speaks to her, General Taheri catches him and tells him there is a proper way to
do things. Not long after, Baba is diagnosed with lung cancer. Amir asks Baba if he will
get General Taheri’s consent for Amir to marry Soraya. General Taheri accepts the
proposal. They hold the wedding quickly because of Baba’s health, and Baba dies a month
later. Amir and Soraya try unsuccessfully to have a baby while Amir works on his writing
career.
Amir gets a call from Rahim Khan. Rahim Khan is sick and wants Amir to see him in
Pakistan. Amir meets him a week later, and Rahim Khan tells Amir about the devastation
in Kabul. He says things only got worse after the Soviets were forced out. Now the
Taliban rule by violence. He has a favor to ask of Amir, but first he needs to tell him
about Hassan. When Baba and Amir left Afghanistan, Rahim Khan watched their house. Out
of loneliness and because he was getting older, he decided to find Hassan. He convinced
Hassan and Hassan’s wife, Farzana, to come back to Kabul with him. Farzana and Hassan
eventually had a little boy, Sohrab. A few years later Rahim Khan went to Pakistan for
medical treatment, but he received a call from a neighbor in Kabul. The Taliban went to
Baba’s house and shot Hassan and Farzana and sent Sohrab to an orphanage.
Rahim Khan wants Amir to go to Kabul and bring Sohrab back to Pakistan, where a
couple lives that will take care of him. He tells Amir that Baba was Hassan’s father,
and Amir agrees to do it. In Afghanistan, Amir finds the orphanage where Sohrab is
supposed to be, but he is not there. The orphanage director says a Taliban official took
Sohrab a month earlier. If Amir wants to find the official, he will be at the soccer
stadium during the game the next day. Amir goes to the game, and at half-time, the
Taliban put a man and a woman in holes in the ground and the official Amir is looking
for stones them to death. Through one of the Taliban guards, Amir sets up a meeting with
the official.
When they meet, Amir tells the official he is looking for a boy, Sohrab, and the
official tells the guards to bring the boy in. Sohrab is wearing a blue silk outfit and
mascara, making him appear more feminine and suggesting that the men sexually abuse him.
The official says something Amir recognizes, and suddenly Amir realizes the official is
Assef. Assef says he wants to settle some unfinished business. He beats Amir with brass
knuckles, breaking Amir’s ribs and splitting his lip. Sohrab threatens Assef with his
slingshot, and when Assef lunges at him, Sohrab shoots him in the eye, allowing Amir and
Sohrab to escape. As Amir recovers in the hospital, he finds out there never was a
couple that could care for Sohrab. Amir asks Sohrab to live with him in the U.S., and
Sohrab accepts.
The adoption officials tell Amir that adopting Sohrab will be impossible since he
can’t prove Sohrab’s parents are dead, and Amir tells Sohrab he may have to go back to
an orphanage. Amir and Soraya figure out a way to get Sohrab to the U.S., but before
they can tell Sohrab, Sohrab tries to kill himself. He lives, but he stops speaking
entirely. Even after they bring Sohrab to California, Sohrab remains withdrawn. One day,
they go to a park with other Afghans. People are flying kites. Amir buys one and gets
Sohrab to fly it with him. They spot another kite and battle it. Using one of Hassan’s
favorite tricks, they win. Sohrab smiles, and as the losing kite flies loose, Amir sets
off to run it for Sohrab.
