The Thousand Splendid Suns is divided into four parts...

In the first part of this book we meet Mariam.

She is a 15 years old girl. Mariam is a illegitimate daughter of a wealthy men Jalil. She lives togheter
with her mother in a kolba, outside of the city.
Jalil visits her every Thursday.
Mariam loves having visitors at the kolba, but it is her father she is most waiting for.
Jalil lives in a big house in Herat togheter with his tree wives and nine children.
Mariam is realy happy when he comes and tell her stories about
Gul Daman, Herat and his cinema. In Mariam`s mather opinion Jalil is not such
good father like Mariams things. She knows that Jalil will dissappoint Mariam.

Mariam wants his father to take her to his cinema on hers 15 birthday. He promises to do so,
but when the next day he did not show up, Mariam decides to go to his house by herself...