The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Vuong, Ocean. The Emperor of Gladness. Penguin Press, 2025.

Ocean Vuong's novel The Emperor of Gladness, written from the third-person point of view, tells the story of the protagonist Hai. Set in the fictional town of East Gladness, Connecticut between the years 2009 and 2010, the novel toys with conventional notions of the linear narrative plot line and employs the past and present tenses. For the sake of clarity, this guide relies on the present tense and a more streamlined mode of explanation.

One evening in September 2009, 19-year-old Hai walks onto King Philip's Bridge in his hometown of East Gladness and prepares to jump. His best friend Noah recently died, and Hai dropped out of college in New York. He recently left New Hope, a rehab facility for his addiction to pills. Convinced he will never be able to make his mom proud, Hai believes that death is his only way out. Suddenly, an elderly woman on the opposite side of the river calls out to him. Hai listens to her when she tells him to get off the edge of the bridge and join her in her yard.

The old lady's name is Grazina. She invites Hai into her home and suggests that he move in with her indefinitely. Hai has recently become estranged from his mother and accepts Grazina's offer. Shortly before his stint in rehab, Hai told his mother that he was going to medical school in Boston. Hai has upheld this lie and feels incapable of telling his mother what is really going on in his life. Grazina gives him a place to stay in exchange for his help administering her dementia medications.

Hai settles into life with Grazina. However, he soon realizes that Grazina's dementia is more debilitating than he thought. She often has delusional episodes where she is convinced she is reliving the horrors of her former life in Europe during WWII. Hai decides to play along, and the two begin reenacting violent wartime scenes.

One day, Hai stops in at the local restaurant HomeMarket to ask his cousin Sony about a job. Sony puts him in touch with the manager BJ, who hires Hai on the spot. Hai is overwhelmed by relief and self-pride. Over the following months, he orients to the workplace and develops relationships with his co-workers Wayne, Maureen, and Russia. He also rekindles his childhood friendship with Sony.

Sony tells Hai that his mom, Hai's aunt Kim, is in prison for arson. Hai promises Sony he will help him bail her out. A short time later, Hai discovers a tin filled with cash in Grazina's pantry. He and Sony take the money to the bail bonds office. However, at the last minute, he decides not to use the money.

Months pass. Hai continues living in East Gladness with Grazina. He relapses and starts taking pills again. Hai is filled with despair and feeling guilty. He cannot summon the courage to visit his mother. He calls her semi-regularly, but he always upholds the lie that he is attending medical school.

On Christmas Eve, Hai and Grazina visit Grazina's son Lucas and his family. Over dinner, Lucas and his wife Clara insist that Grazina should be in a nursing home. Back at home that evening, Grazina laments her impending death.

On New Year's, Hai walks over to his mother's house, planning to knock on the door as Grazina has suggested. However, he lacks the courage to knock. Instead, he calls her on the phone while watching her through the window. His mother apologizes for their falling out months prior and expresses how proud she is of Hai. A devastated Hai bikes home and bursts into tears outside Grazina's house.

Spring comes to East Gladness. One day, Hai and Sony visit Aunt Kim in prison. Aunt Kim tells Hai that Sony's beloved and estranged father Minh is in fact dead. Hai is furious, as Sony has been desperate to reunite with Minh for years. A short time later, BJ fires Sony when the regional manager demands that she cut down on payroll. Sony flees the shop. Hai chases after him, finding him on the train tracks. Hai begs Sony not to look for his dad. He reveals that Minh is dead. Sony says he already knew that his father had passed away in a freak car explosion in Vermont. He begs Hai to travel north with him anyway. The two invoke the help of their HomeMarket friends.

Hai, Sony, Grazina, and their HomeMarket co-workers drive to Vermont to visit the site where Minh died. They say a few words and drive back to East Gladness. Back at the house, Hai and Grazina discover a notice from the state about Grazina's future. Grazina will be taken to a nursing home the following afternoon. The two spend their final hours together immersed in reenactments of Grazina's memories. When the nursing home van arrives, Grazina gives Hai the cash from her pantry, and they say goodbye.

Hai brings the cash to Sony so he can bail out Aunt Kim. Then, he climbs into the dumpster behind New Hope and answers a phone call from his mom. He admits that he is afraid of the future. His mom reassures him.