A young French Algerian man named Meursault lives in the city of Algiers. One day, he unexpectedly receives a telegram telling him that his mother is dead. For some time, she was a resident in a retirement home 50 miles outside of Algiers. Meursault asks his employer for time off to attend the funeral. The employer is reluctant; he makes Meursault feel ashamed to ask. Afterward, Meursault regrets his feelings of guilt.

Before departing, Meursault eats a quick meal and borrows a black mourning tie from his friend and coworker Emmanuel. Meursault then rides a bus to the town where his mother lived and sleeps for most of the journey. He meets the warden at the retirement home, who admits that a man of Meursault’s meagre resources would have struggled to support an elderly relative. The warden agrees that the retirement home was the best place for Meursault’s mother. He then takes Meursault to see the body. A Christian funeral has been planned, but Meursault knows that his mother “had never given a thought to religion in her life” (6). The warden leaves Meursault with the body, which is placed inside a small, cheap coffin.

Meursault is joined by an elderly Arab nurse, whose face is covered by a bandage due to a tumor, and the keeper of the morgue.