Act 1 Summary

Anna Christie opens in a bar in New York City called "Johnny-the-Priest's." The year is not established but it is the autumn season. Johnny-the-Priest, who owns the saloon, gets his name from his choirboy looks. Larry, who is the late shift bartender, arrives for work just as the postman delivers a letter for a man named Chris Christopherson, a sailor using the bar as a mailing address. Johnny accepts the letter and agrees to hold it for Chris.

It just so happens that Chris, who is the captain of a coal barge, has docked in New York and arrives at the bar with a woman named Marthy who lives with him on the barge. Chris is overjoyed to receive the letter, which is from his daughter, Anna, whom he has not seen in fifteen years, when the girl was five years old. Chris...