This poetic memoir follows the story of Balakian's family during the Armenian Genocide. In 1915, the Ottoman-Turkish government backed a genocide which led to the deaths of a million-and-a-half ethnic Armenians. Balakian grew up in America after his family escaped, and he always wondered about it, he writes. He compiles various anecdotes from his family, including his aunt, an editor at The New York Times, and his grandmother.
The grandmother's stories are relayed, and they seem fun on the surface, but after the stories are told, Balakian goes on to explain that in his point of view, his grandmother was subtly communicating what she learned from surviving the genocide. The family enjoys baseball together as their pass time. While preparing a dessert, Balakian's grandmother discusses a dead black dog which was ominous in her life.
Later in life, Balakian discovers more information about the genocide from an autobiography written by the US ambassador to Turkey. That information directly connects the Armenian Genocide to the Holocaust explaining that it was the same xenophobia in the zeitgeist. He begins to ask more questions about his family's experience, but his family is offended that he would bring up such traumatizing subjects. After political discussion, he concludes by discussing the current state of that region.
