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1-Page Summary of American Buffalo

Overall Summary

American Buffalo is a play by David Mamet. It has three characters and takes place in a junk shop. The plot revolves around would-be thieves and drug addicts who are struggling to survive at the bottom of America’s economic hierarchy.

In the play, Donny is a shop owner who gives advice to Bobby. He tells him that he needs to consume more than just coffee and promises to buy vitamins for him because Bobby can’t afford them. They also talk about a poker game from last night in which everybody lost except for one woman named Ruthie and a man named Fletch, whom they agree is good at playing cards.

Shortly thereafter, a man named Teach enters the store full of rage at Ruthie and her “partner” Gracie. Teach is angry because of an offhand comment made by Ruthie earlier that morning over breakfast at the Riverside, a local diner. Bobby leaves to go to the Riverside himself to get them food and coffee. He returns with news that he saw “the man” leave his home with a suitcase and coat as if he was leaving town. Donny tells Bobby he did a good job before giving him money for some reason (which is not specified). It seems like Donny doesn’t want to give Bobby this money because it’s suggested that Bobby is addicted to drugs again after having previously gotten clean from his addiction which may be why Donny gives him this money in secret without telling anyone else about it.

Teach begins to pressure Donny for information about this man. He came into the shop looking for a buffalo nickel, and he offered $50 for it. Donny was able to negotiate the price up to $90, so he thought that this man had an extensive coin collection worth a lot of money. Therefore, they planned to rob him by having Bobby commit the robbery while Donny split whatever money they earned with Teach.

Bobby and Donny are in Teach’s resale shop discussing a robbery that they want to commit. Bobby wants to do the robbery, but Teach convinces him that he should be the one to do it instead. Donny agrees, but then decides also bring Fletch into the plan as well; this makes Teach very unhappy. The two men discuss how they’re going to go about committing the crime and decide on meeting back at the resale shop later on that evening before actually carrying out their plan.

In Act II, Donny and Teach are waiting for Bobby to sell his buffalo nickel. He’s already fifteen minutes late, but they decide to wait for him anyway. Then Teach arrives, who says he was late because his watch broke. Eventually, they give in and pay a few bucks just so Bobby will leave them alone.

Meanwhile, Donny can’t get in touch with Fletch. Teach suggests that Fletch has betrayed them, even though Donny assures him that Fletch does not know the address. In an effort to convince Donny to cut off all ties with Fletch, Teach says he caught Fletch cheating at cards last night.

Bobby comes back and tells Teach that he heard from Ruthie that Fletch was mugged by some Hispanic men. They are now suspicious of both Bobby and Fletch, as well as the possibility that Bobby is involved in a larger betrayal. After they call the Masonic Hospital to find out where Fletch is staying, they learn there’s no record of him being at that location. Teach loses his temper and hits Bobby so hard it causes him to bleed from his ear.

Donny calls Ruthie, who tells him that Fletch is at a different hospital. Donny goes to the other hospital and finds out that Bobby’s story was true. Teach then feels bad about attacking Bobby and wants to stop the robbery. Donny says they can’t do it because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone else, but Teach wants to continue with the plan anyway. He gets angry and starts destroying everything in sight as a result of being told not go through with the plan. Eventually everyone calms down, but Teach still has his head wrapped up in newspaper so he won’t get wet from the rain. The play ends with Bobby apologizing for what happened earlier, and Donny saying that it’s okay now; nothing more needs to be said on this subject anymore