"The Quiet American" by Graham is set in Vietnam, where , a foreign for a newspaper in London, is living during the 1950s.The novel is a story about the friendship of two completely men, and Thomas Fowler, and their to the same woman. The is also an important part of the story and at the same time the background.The story begins in in : Pyle, an American official is murdered. Who had done it and what were the reasons? , a Vietnamese woman, returns to after Pyle’s death. The , on which the book is based, gives us the answers.

Thomas Fowler, a middle-aged British reporter and the novel's , is living with his , Phuong, a Vietnamese dancer, in . Fowler has a in England who is a convinced and doesn’t want to . Pyle has a seriousness that with the noisy of the other Americans in Saigon; "A quiet American" is what everyone calls him with some .

The difficulties begin when Pyle first meets . He falls in love; love at first sight. He speaks to Fowler about his and openly declares his intention of Phuong and taking her back to . Fowler knows that Pyle can offer her a better life: he is younger, he can marry her and start a family, he could give her protection and she would have a good reputation. Some days later Pyle even makes a clumsy wedding - Fowler has to , because Pyle isn’t very good at and she doesn’t speak . Phuong refuses. The two men still remain friends, developing a sort of friends-but-rivals relationship. One experience, however, welds them together, - they get between the fronts of a and Fowler is wounded. Pyle saves his life.

Life goes on. Thomas gets a letter from his wife which destroys all his of marrying Phuong one day. Phuong and Pyle start to meet and one day, Phuong leaves Fowler and goes to Pyle. Thomas gets very , more at Pyle, than at Phuong, but he has to accept the situation. He is afraid of growing old , he misses the evenings together with her, the pipes that she had always prepared for him and her .

He throws himself into work and discovers a . Pyle, the clean and esteemed Economic Aide Commission man, had been involved in a attempt, where several civilians had died and many people had been injured. Fowler him. 's opinion is that, "Anyway, they died in the right cause - for democracy." From this, Fowler now has reasons to help some Viet Minh thugs to do away with Pyle. Pyle is murdered - betrayed by one of his best friends. Thomas has a valid and nobody dares to him. Phuong returns to him, he doesn't blame her and everything seems to be as it was before. Unexpectedly, however Fowler gets a telegram from his wife. She agrees to divorce. Despite this happy ending, a bitter aftertaste remains.