: A story of friendship and betrayal that forever changed the lives of two Afghan boys. Many years after the civil war, one of them returns to his homeland to correct childhood mistakes and atone for a friend who was once devoted to them.

The story is based on the memories of the Afghan Amir and is conducted in the first person.

Part 1

year 2001. A friend from Pakistan calls the hero who lives in San Francisco and asks to come, adding that he has a good chance to fix everything. The hero thinks about his abandoned homeland - Afghanistan, about his father, Ali and Hassan. Watching kites over the park, he recalls the 1975 event that changed his whole life.

Part 2

Afghanistan, the 1970s, the reign of the Shah. In a large beautiful house, in the rich quarter of Kabul, lives a boy Amir, the son of a widower businessman. His mother died in childbirth. In an adobe hut, next to the master's house, there are servants: Ali and his son Hassan, a boy with a cleft lip. Ali's wife left the family immediately after giving birth.

The masters are Pashtuns, representatives of the titular nation, the servants are Hazaras, a despised, humiliated minority.

Boys are friends from childhood, dairy brothers. The kind and courageous Hassan adores Amir and obeys him in everything. Amir, the inventor and wound up all the children's games, rather condescending to a friend. The father greatly appreciates the servants and is kind to them.

Part 3

The hero recalls Baba, a beloved father, an outstanding personality. This is a man of a wide soul and noble deeds, a leader. He achieved everything in life himself. Being of noble birth, married a highly educated woman of royal blood.

Baba wants to lead everything, remake the world for himself, and only with his own son does he not succeed: the boy does not look like him, he is not a soldier, but a creator. Amir is a book lover, lover and connoisseur of poetry, like a deceased mother. The father notices the weakness of his son's character and is very worried about this, considering him unreliable. Baba shares her doubts with a friend and companion, Rahim Khan, who loves and protects the boy.

Amir is afraid of his father and jealous of Hassan, whom Baba favors for nobleness, courage and dexterity.

Part 4

Baba likes to remember and tell the boys how he and Ali grew up together, as their sons are now. The orphaned little Hazara was once sheltered by Baba's father, and since then the master and servant together. Amir thinks about the attitude of his father to the servants: those Shiites, Hazaras, in contrast to him and Baba - are Sunnis, Pashtuns. The boy is seized with prejudices that prevent him from recognizing Hassan as a friend, as, indeed, his father.

Despite the difference in position, the boys are friends. Hassan always protects the owner from dangers. He is illiterate, and Amir reads him aloud. The favorite work of the little Hazara is the folklore “Shahnameh”, his favorite characters are the heroes Rustem and Sohrab. Taking advantage of the fact that the servant is illiterate, Amir often jokes with him, and Hassan naively believes everything that a friend says and does.

In 1973, ten-year-old Amir composes the first story; Hassan prompted him to work, enthusiastically appreciating his friend’s inventions. The boy shows the composition to his father and Rahim Khan, to whom he is attached. The father is indifferent to the work of his son, and the companion shows sincere interest and positively evaluates the first test of the pen. The boy is inspired by the reaction of Rahim and offended by Baba. Later in the night, he reads the story to Hassan, who also praises the composition.

Part 5

On the same night, a coup d'etat takes place: the thirty-year-old monarchy of the Shah is overthrown, in the country - a dictatorship, followed by the establishment of democracy. From this moment, peaceful Afghanistan, like previous life, comes to an end.

The next morning, when the boys head to their favorite wasteland, where they like to play, they are stopped by the company of Asef, a local teenager from a wealthy family, a thunderstorm in the area, a sadist and a sociopath. He is an adherent of Hitler and Nazism; he hates the Hazaras as subhuman. Asef wants to beat Amir, but Hassan stands up for a friend, directing the slingshot into the sadist's eye. Hooligans retreat, finally threatening to take revenge on friends.

In 1974, Baba invites a plastic surgeon, and he performs an operation on Hassan’s cleft lip, correcting her. This is a birthday present for a boy.

Part 6

In winter, classes were usually canceled due to cold weather. In the winter of 1975, Amir and Hassan have fun: they play, go to the movies, fly kites. Winter kite fighting is an old Afghan tradition. A mass of people takes part in a competition without rules. The one who finds and brings the last fallen serpent is the winner.

The boys are experienced and passionate fighters, especially Hassan, who has a talent for managing with a snake. He often wins, expertly cuts off enemy kites, finds the fallen better than anyone else. And in this Amir envies the servant. Baba also understands this skill, and this brings the father and son closer.

In the winter of 1975, another district air championship takes place. Baba invites his son to win the contest, and he dreams that if he finally becomes a winner, Baba will really love him and will appreciate him more than Hassan.

Before the championship, the boys play cards, and it seems to Amir that Hassan succumbs to him. The servant says that he loves his home, his homeland, and the hero in front of such sincerity feels himself a hypocrite.

Part 7

In the morning of the contest, Hassan tells Amir his dream, in which he first sailed over a stormy river with a monster at the bottom, and after him Hassan. Amir is nervous before the championship and does not feel like a hero at all, so she is angry. The servant reassures him, and the hero feels the strength to win.

At the championship, Amir and Hassan cut off all the kites. The victorious boys rejoice, and Hassan runs to look for the last cut off snake. A little while later, Amir goes in search of a friend and sees that Asef and the company are holding him back. The hero overhears their conversation, in which Asef assures the little Hazara that Amir is not at all his friend and will never save, will not help.

Hassan behaves bravely, but the gang beats him, and Asef rapes. Amir sees all this, but, seized with fear, does not intervene. At that very moment, he recalls that once the old predictor refused to predict the future for Hassan. He also remembers a dream in which a Khazarian friend saved him.

The wounded Hassan returns without releasing the snake from the hands of the found, and Amir cowardly assures that he was looking for him and did not find him. He is terribly afraid that Hassan will suddenly tell everything and he will have to somehow react, but a friend is silent. The desired victory does not bring the hero joy, and his own vileness oppresses.

Part 8

The life of the boys is changing dramatically: Amir suffers from the pangs of conscience, Hassan is sick for a long time. Their friendship and trust comes to an end. Amir feels bad at the sight of a servant, and he tries to behave as if nothing had happened. The hero calms down only next to his beloved father.

The last time friends talk on their favorite hill. Amir angrily throws grenades at the servant, and Hassan is drenched in red juice, like blood. The boy makes it clear that he knows about the cowardice shown by the owner.

On the birthday of Amir, Asef gives him a book - a biography of Hitler, his idol, and the hero throws it away. Sad in loneliness, he does not rejoice at the holiday, reliving his betrayal again, and only Rahim Khan consoles him.

Part 9

Soon, Amir throws up his watch and money to Hassan, so that he would be suspected of theft and kicked out. Then the hero may cease to be tormented. Despite the requests of Baba, the servants leave the house and leave. The old life is forever over.

Part 10

In 1979, a new coup d'etat takes place. At the request of the pro-communist government, the USSR is sending troops to Afghanistan.The repressions of the bourgeoisie begin, and in 1981, Baba and his son emigrated to Pakistan. On the way, the father protects the woman from the drunken Soviet soldier, teaching his son a lesson in courage and nobility. For life, his father retains hatred of the Russians.

Father and son bob long in Pakistan, waiting for permission to emigrate to the United States.

Part 11

1981 year. USA, California. The family lives in poverty: Baba works at a gas station, her son goes to school. Father will not get used to American life, where no one trusts each other and there is no real friendship.

Amir goes to college, where he studies as a writer, and continues to write stories. He and his father start reselling old things in a flea market, where there are many Asian immigrants. There in 1985, the hero met the beautiful Soraya, the daughter of an Afghan immigrant.

Part 12

Sorai has a strict father, and young people communicate furtively. In addition, her father, a former general, is dissatisfied with Amir's occupation - literature. But the girl’s mother welcomes the guy, since she does not have other suitors. Once a girl lived with a man, but did not marry him, so it is believed that she has a tarnished reputation. Amir is in love and does not pay attention to such nonsense.

Father gets cancer. He refuses to be treated. Amir asks his father to take him to Sorai. The general’s family agrees to marry her daughter.

Part 13

Engagement is taking place. Baba spends almost all the money accumulated in the USA on the wedding. After the wedding, Sorai lives with Amir and takes care of his father. A month later, Baba dies calm, seeing that his son is happy. At the funeral and memorial service, many people recall all the good deeds of Baba, which he never advertised. Amir is depressed for a long time.

After the funeral, Amir and his wife live in her family. General Taheri is a heavy man, keeping his family in severity. But the mother loves Amir as a son. Soon, young people begin to live separately, go to universities: Amir - to a linguist, Sorai - to a teacher. The hero works part-time and writes the first novel at night, which ends in 1988. After the release of the novel, Amir becomes famous.

The family follows the news from their homeland: the Soviet contingent is withdrawn from Afghanistan, a civil war begins between the Mujahideen. The Cold War is ending, the communist regimes are collapsing, the world is changing. Amir regrets that his father did not live to see this, and wonders how Hassan and Rahim Khan, whom he often recalls, are doing in their homeland.

Young people are trying to have a baby, but the examination reveals "unexplained infertility", which makes the family unhappy. They are offered to think about adoption, but they hesitate. Amir considers childlessness to be a payment for old sins, including before Hassan.

Part 14

year 2001. Heroes live in San Francisco, in a beautiful house, work. The call of Rahim Khan, who suggests visiting him in Pakistan, knocks Amir out of his settled life. An old friend in a conversation makes it clear that he knows all the unsightly secrets of Amir, and hints that there is an opportunity to fix everything. On the night before departure, the hero dreams of a happy Hassan.

Part 15

When meeting, the hero hardly recognizes Rahim Khan - he is at death. He tells him about the unbearable situation in the homeland ruled by the Taliban. And the story begins about Hassan, which Amir is hard to hear.

Part 16

After Baba's flight in 1981, at his request, Rakhim Khan settled in the house. Many of his friends were killed during the years of the Mujahideen, and from loneliness, he decided to find Hassan and offer him to live in a mansion, as before.

Rahim Khan found a guy in a poor Pakistani village, happily married to Farzana, and persuaded him to return to Kabul and help maintain the mansion. Out of love and gratitude to Baba and Amir, Hassan agreed.

A few years later, the once-escaped mother of Hassan appeared in front of the mansion. She is lonely and disfigured. Good Hassan forgave and sheltered his mother. Soon, a son Sohrab was born in a young family, named after the beloved literary hero Hassan.The family lived happily for several years, caring for the house. Hassan's mother died in a dream when Sohrab was four years old.

Hassan was a loving father, taught his son to read, write, shoot a slingshot and fly kites. In the late 1990s, the Taliban entered Kabul; the population, tired of the wars of the Mujahideen, joyfully greeted them, hoping for a speedy peace. The Taliban established a strict Sharia order, in which women and Hazaras lost all rights and began to persecute those who were objectionable.

Part 17

Armed bandits patrolled the city, finding fault with residents for any reason. They began to look closely at the mansion, where the owners were absent and only the Hazara servants remained. After waiting for Rakhim Khan to go to Pakistan for a medical examination, the Taliban broke into the house and ordered Hassan and his family to clean up. He stubbornly tried to prevent the looting, and then the bandits killed him and Farzan. And little Sohrab was placed in a shelter.

Rahim Khan shows Amir a letter and a photo of Hassan. In a letter, a childhood friend talks about his life, his family, complains about the difficult times for the country and expresses hope for an early friendly meeting. He does not remind Amir about the sad past.

The dying Rahim Khan asks Amir to go to Afghanistan and bring Sohrab. Knowing how dangerous it is now in his homeland, Amir refuses. Then the old man reminds Amir of his duty to Baba, who once loved Hassan, and reveals a family secret: Hassan is the illegitimate son of Baba, Amir’s brother. The struck hero accuses Rahim and Baba of hypocrisy and lies.

Part 18

Wandering around the city, Amir discusses the vicissitudes of fate, how he was blind, not suspecting anything. He decides to go after his nephew.

Part 19

The hired guide Farid takes Amir to Afghanistan. The hero does not recognize the country: devastation everywhere, the consequences of a long war. The guide instructs Amir how to behave with the Taliban: not to attract attention, which is fraught with mortal danger.

Part 20

The director of the shelter, where Amir and Farid search for Sohrab, says that the boy was taken by a high-ranking Taliban, who often takes the children away. On the way to the hotel, Amir visits memorable, once flowering places of his childhood, now completely destroyed.

Part 21

The next day, the heroes are looking for a pervert in the stadium. During the break of a football match, a tall Taliban in dark glasses stones criminals with the approval of the crowd. At the request of Amir, he makes an appointment with him.

Part 22

Asef meets Amir in a rich house not touched by war - he is that important Taliban, a madman, a drug addict, a sadist. Unlike Amir, Asef immediately recognizes a childhood friend. He boasts to the hero of his military “exploits” - the killing of civilians.

Asef holds Sohrab like a sex toy. He is ready to give the boy back after Amir pays a long-standing “debt”. The weirdo knuckles the hero with brass knuckles and intends to kill, but Sohrab slings out the maniac's eye with a slingshot. The battered Amir and his nephew flee, Farid hurriedly takes them to Pakistan. Oddly enough, the hero is relieved during the beating: as if he had atoned for guilt before Hassan.

Part 23

In Pakistan, Amir is being treated for a long time, he has severe injuries. Farid and Sohrab visit him. The boy, very similar to his father, is in constant apathy. Rahim Khan disappeared, leaving a letter to Amir. In it, he suggests that the hero finally forgive both his father and himself for his committed sins.

Farid takes the hero with the boy to Islamabad, because the Taliban are looking for them. There Amir and Sohrab talk openly for the first time, the hero admits that they are relatives, and offers his nephew to go with him to the United States.

Part 24

Reception at the American embassy in Islamabad brings a disappointing result: it is impossible to adopt an Afghan child without documents. The lawyer advises Amir to send Sohrab to a shelter here, and after the passage of time to adopt.Sohrab is afraid of the shelter, thinking that he will be raped again, and after persuading his uncle tries to commit suicide.

Part 25

Sohrab nursed in the hospital. Uncle Soray, an immigration officer, helps bring the boy to the United States. In the summer of 2001, Amir brings his nephew home.

Sora and her mother are sincerely happy with the boy, they buy him many gifts. General Taheri is unhappy that the Hazara lives in the family of his daughter. Amir represents Sohrab as a nephew and forbids calling him a Hazara.

The boy experiences stress and is always silent; Amir and his wife suffer from this.

The September 11 attacks. In society, a surge of patriotism. The US military operation in Afghanistan begins. The Taliban are defeated. A new government is being formed in the country, where General Taheri is invited; he and his wife are leaving for their homeland.

In March 2002, on the Afghan New Year, a big celebration takes place in the park. Kites are launched, and Amir invites Sohrab to participate. And a miracle happens: the boy agrees and finally smiles. Amir is happy. He and Sohrab launch a serpent, as it was once in childhood with Hassan.