David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars (1994) explores the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, a fictional Japanese American man accused of killing his white neighbor over a land dispute. The novel is set in the decade following World War II, and post-war racial tensions linger. Racism and discrimination toward Japanese Americans feature prominently, as the novel’s central community has a large Japanese American population. The novel delves into the complex relationships between the defendant, his wife, the deceased fisherman, and the local newspaper reporter, exploring small-town tensions as the Pearl Harbor attack transforms long-time friends and neighbors into enemies.

Guterson writes nonfiction, fiction, and poetry in the forms of books and short stories. Upon its release, Snow Falling on Cedars was widely praised, becoming a New York Times bestseller and later translated into numerous languages. It received the PEN/Faulkner award, and a film version was released in 1999. Guterson is the recipient of the White Award for Journalism, the Washington State Governor’s Award, the Swedish Academy Crime Writers’ Award, the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award, the Barnes and Noble Discover Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

This guide references the 1994 hardcover edition by Harcourt Brace & Company.

Content Warning: This guide references violence, combat, and anti-Japanese racial prejudices.

Plot Summary

Set in the fictional town of Amity Harbor on the fictional San Piedro Island in the Washington state Puget Sound, Snow Falling on Cedars is structured around the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto. Miyamoto is accused of killing fellow fisherman Carl Heine, whose body was discovered caught in his gillnet on the morning of September 16, 1954. In December, 77 days later, the trial begins with testimony from police who discovered the body and searched both Heine’s and Miyamoto’s boats. The coroner asserts that Heine died by drowning but also mentions a large gash on Heine’s head. The prosecution argues that Miyamoto pretended to need help, tied his boat to Heine’s, and then struck Heine with a wooden gaff, knocking him overboard.

The trial proceedings are woven between flashbacks by the novel’s key characters. Local newspaper reporter Ishmael Chambers observes the trial, and in a flashback, he recounts his adolescent friendship with Kabuo’s wife, Hatsue. In high school, they searched for clams and harvested strawberries. Ishmael fell in love with Hatsue, and a secret romantic relationship developed. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 changed everything, as Hatsue and her family were forced to relocate to Manzanar—a concentration camp in California where Japanese citizens were imprisoned. There, Hatsue wrote to Ishmael, ending their relationship. She emphasized that she must date someone within her ethnicity. In Manzanar, she met Kabuo Miyamoto—then a teenager, also from Amity Harbor. They married in the camp just before Miyamoto left for active duty.

In this flashback, Ishmael goes to war, as does Carl Heine—the son of a strawberry farmer and acquaintance of Ishmael. During combat in Japan, Ishmael loses his arm. He returns, feeling lost and uncertain, and works alongside his father, who established the island’s only newspaper. In time, Ishmael takes over the paper. All the while, he thinks of Hatsue, who has gone on to have children with Kabuo.

As the trial unfolds, the motive for Kabuo to murder Carl Heine is presented: Before the war, Kabuo’s father purchased seven acres of Heine’s family’s strawberry farm. When the family was summoned to depart for Manzanar, only two payments were remaining. Kabuo’s father approached Carl’s father, who refused to accept any additional payments, insisting they would resume them when the war ended. During that time, however, Carl’s father passed away, and his mother sold the farm to a man named Ole Jurgensen. In the weeks before Carl’s death, Jurgensen put the farm up for sale, and Carl purchased it.

Kabuo also approached Jurgensen about purchasing the seven acres originally purchased by his father, but was too late: Carl Heine had already purchased it. A few days later, Carl Heine was found dead.

During the trial, a snowstorm rages outside the courtroom, stranding motorists and forcing the ferry to cancel its services to the mainland. Trees take down power lines and phone lines, yet the trial continues. On the afternoon that the electricity goes out, court adjourns early. Ishmael uses the time to take photos of the stranded cars and storm damage for the newspaper. He heads to the Coast Guard station in search of past storm records for an article. Once there, he searches the records of the night Carl Heine died. He discovers a freighter passed through the area where Carl was known to have been fishing just five minutes before Carl’s watch stopped. The men who logged the report have since been moved to positions off the island. Ishmael pockets the report, knowing that it exonerates Kabuo by proving Carl’s death was an accident.

When the trial resumes, Hatsue is called to testify. She counters the testimony of Carl Heine’s mother, Etta, by asserting that Kabuo indicated to her that, on the night of September 15, Heine flagged Kabuo down for help: His battery had died and he needed a spare. Kabuo boarded his boat and helped Carl Heine install one of Kabuo’s spare batteries. Later, Kabuo testifies to this, adding that, because the battery he possessed was the wrong size for Heine’s boat, Heine used the wooden gaff from Kabuo’s boat as a hammer to pound the battery into place. While doing so, he cut his hand, spreading blood onto the gaff. Both Hatsue and Kabuo testify that, before returning to his boat, Kabuo spoke with Carl once again about purchasing the seven acres. They assert that Carl agreed, and that he and Kabuo established a price and terms of the sale before Kabuo departed. All the while, Ishmael fingers the Coast Guard report in his pocket, unsure whether to reveal it.

Power is restored to the island just as the jury begins its deliberations. By the end of the day, its members have not reached a verdict. They are instructed to return the next morning to continue deliberations. That night, Ishmael shows the Coast Guard report to Hatsue and her parents. Early the next morning, they share it with the trial’s judge. Ishmael, along with the police chief and another officer, search Carl’s boat, which has been stored since Carl’s death. There they find evidence revealing Carl fell from the boat’s mast when removing a lantern as the freighter passed. He hit his head on the boat deck and was thrown overboard where he was caught in his gillnet. The judge immediately dismisses the charges against Kabuo, who is released. Ishmael returns to his office to write the news story of Kabuo’s innocence.