When story opens up, one of the main characters, Paul Varjack, is talking about old friends and neighborhoods, but mostly about one in particular, a young woman Holiday Golightly.  He had received a call from another dear friend, Joe Bell, who ran a bar not far from Paul’s old apartment, asking if Paul could come down to the bar because Joe had something important to tell him.  When Paul arrives at the bar, Joe mentions an old neighbor, Mr. I. Y. Yunioshi, stopped by with some photographs he took in Africa.  The photo’s (all the same picture but from different angles) was of a tall black man wearing a calico skirt and displaying in his hands and carved wood sculpture of a young woman’s head.  Joe insists the head is a sculpture of Holly Golightly, and tries to convince Paul.  Paul says he believes Holly is living in New York City and Joe then insists that if she were, he would have seen her.  Then the topic of whether or not Joe Bell was in love with Holly comes up and Paul thinks it’s time for him to leave.
 
   The incident brings back Paul’s memories of Holly, and Paul then begins telling the reader about his experiences and short life with Holly Golightly.  Paul had moved into the same apartment building as Holly Golightly, and, one evening, past midnight, was awakened by the sound of Mr. Yunioshi calling down the stairs – then the sound of Holly’s voice.  Holly was apologizing for having to ring Mr. Yunioshi’s buzzer (a noise indicated somebody downstairs, wants you to open the downstairs door), and Mr. Yunioshi was protesting being woken up so late at night.  Holly apologized again and Yunioshi went to bed.  Holly then turns to go into her own apartment, when a man attempt to follow her in. "Bless you, darling— you were sweet to see me home" she says, and closes the door in his face.  He pounds on the door and tries to get in, but evidentially gives up and goes home.
 
   Over the next few weeks, Holly starts ringing Paul’s buzzer at all hours of the morning.  Paul doesn’t protest and soon starts seeing her while he’s out on the town.  He also begins to hear her singing on her fire escape; one frequented tune went: Don’t wanna sleep, Don’t wanna die, Just wanna go a-travelin’ through the pastures of the sky.  The two of them never say anything when they saw each other on the staircase or around the neighborhood, but one night, Paul wakes up to a bump in his apartment.  He sits up to see Miss Golightly coming in through his fire escape.  She apologizes for waking him, and informs him she has a drunken man in her apartment and is wondering if she could stay in his room for awhile.
 
   The two start talking and Holly starts to intrigue Paul.  He talked about writing, and even read her one of his stories (which she didn’t like). She spoke of her brother Fred and asks Paul if she may call him Fred (on account they looked alike, except Paul is shorter).  She also talks about meeting Sally Tomato (a man in prison for Mafia activity) at  Sing Sing (a prison) later that day.  Paul asks how she knows him and she informs him she was contacted through his lawyer, Mr. O’Shaunghnessy, after Tomato was in prison.  She was offered $100 for weekly visits to Tomato in prison, after she gave Mr. O’Shaunghnessy the weather report (a message Tomato gives to her to give to O’Shaunghnessy.  Something like: "there’s a hurricane in Cuba" or "it’s snowing in Palermo").  Holly asked Paul if he would mind if she crawled into bed with him for a while so she could sleep.  Paul pretended to sleep while Holly lay next to him.  Holly started talking and crying in her sleep and when Paul asked what was wrong, she proclaimed "I hate snoops!" and ran out the fire escape.