in atlanta, georgia, john now works for an aid organization whose mission is to connect "bui-doi" (from vietnamese "trẻ bụi đời" "street children," meaning children conceived during the war) with their american fathers ("bui doi"). john tells chris that kim is still alive, which chris is relieved to hear after years of having nightmares of her dying. he also tells chris about tam and urges chris to go to bangkok with ellen. chris finally tells ellen about kim and tam ("the revelation"). in bangkok, the engineer is hawking a sleazy club where kim works as a dancer ("what a waste"). chris, ellen, and john arrive in search of kim. john finds kim dancing at the club, and tells her that chris is also in bangkok. he then tries to tell her that chris is remarried, but kim interrupts. she is thrilled about the news and tells tam that his father has arrived, believing that they are to go to america with chris. seeing kim happy, john cannot bring himself to break the news to her, but promises to bring chris to her ("please", replaced with "too much for one heart" [same melody] in 2014 london revival).