"Hills Like White Elephants" opens with a long description of the story's setting in a train station surrounded by hills, fields, and trees in a valley in Spain. A man known simply as the American and his girlfriend sit at a table outside the station, waiting for a train to Madrid.
It is hot, and the man orders two beers. The girl remarks that the nearby hills look like white elephants, to which the American responds that he's never seen one. They order more drinks and begin to bicker about the taste of the alcohol.
The American chastises her and says that they should try to enjoy themselves. The girl replies that she's merely having fun and then retracts her earlier comment by saying the hills don't actually look like white elephants to her anymore.
They order more drinks, and the American mentions that he wants the girl, whom he calls "Jig," to have an operation, although he never actually specifies what kind of operation.
