The setting is Paris in the mid-1920s. Jake Barnes, the narrator, provides backstory about his relationship with Robert Cohn. Cohn was a boxing champion while in college, but Jake asserts that Cohn did not actually care about boxing; rather, boxing helped Cohn, who is Jewish, fight back against anti-Semitism at Princeton.

Cohn is from a family of rich New Yorkers. He went to military school and was treated respectfully there, but the anti-Semitism he faced at Princeton shook his confidence. He “married by the first girl who was nice to him” (12). Their marriage dissolved, and he moved to California. There, he started a literary review, which he eventually abandoned when it became too expensive.

Cohn met a new woman, Frances Clyne, who compelled him to go to Europe, at which time he met Jake. Cohn focused on writing and published a poorly received novel. One night, Jake is at a restaurant with Cohn and Frances. Cohn expresses a desire to get out of Paris, and Jake suggests they go to Alsace, where he knows a girl who can show them around. Jake is kicked under the table and he instead recommends going somewhere else.