Patron Saints of Nothing Summary

Michigan high school senior Jay Reguero has just gotten into the University of Michigan but is uncertain about his life path, since he doesn’t know what he wants to do as a career. Soon after Jay’s acceptance, Jay’s dad tells him that Jay’s Filipino cousin, Jun, has died. However, Jay’s dad won’t say how, and there won’t be a funeral. Jay is upset; Jun was the only person who Jay felt understood him, and before he died the two wrote letters to one another. Jay had stopped responding to Jun years ago, which he now feels guilty about, especially because Jun ran away from home after their correspondence ended.

Jay asks his mom to tell him how Jun died. Apparently, Jun had started using shabu (meth) and the police shot him as part of Philippine President Duterte’s war on drugs. Jay didn’t know about the drug war. His family left the Philippines when Jay was one and Jay is caught between worlds: his mom is white, his dad Filipino. Jay tries to open up to his friend Seth about Jun, but Seth reacts badly, telling Jay that he forgot Jay was Filipino because Jay acts like all the white kids. This upsets Jay, who feels alone. Jay later receives a DM from an anonymous Instagram. The user claims to be Jun’s friend and tells Jay that Jun “did nothing wrong.” They forward Jay articles about corrupt murders in the Philippines.

Jay decides that he wants justice for Jun and convinces his parents to let him travel to the Philippines. Jay’s dad talks to him first, telling him that they left the Philippines so Jay and his siblings could have a better life. He also warns Jay not to bring Jun up in front of anyone. Jay’s Tita Ami comes to pick him up from the airport, and though Jay’s cousin Angel is friendly, his cousin Grace is cold. At their house, Jay finds Jun’s room bare. He rereads one of Jun’s letters, all of which he brought with him on the trip. This letter describes a visit to the slums and shows how unhappy Jun was living with his police chief father, Tito Maning.

That night at dinner, Tito Maning insults Jay’s father for letting Jay and his siblings grow up without speaking the native Filipino language of Tagalog. Later, Jay discovers that his letters from Jun are gone. He thinks that the family’s maid, María, must have taken them on Tito Maning’s orders. Jay breaks into Tito Maning’s home office to search for the letters. They aren’t there, but Jay does find Jun’s name on a list and a note written in Tagalog. He takes a photo of the note before leaving.

The next day, Grace is supposed to take Jay to a museum but instead brings him to the mall, where two girls are waiting: Grace’s secret girlfriend Jessa and Jessa’s sister Mia. Mia and Jay spend the day together, and Jay tells her about Jun. Mia is a journalism student and offers to help Jay find answers. Jay reveals that the note he found in Tito Maning’s room was from a detective who said that he’d located Jun; the detective then asked what Tito Maning wanted to do. Jay wonders whether Tito Maning gave his colleagues the go-ahead to kill Jun. After her date with Jessa, Grace tells Jay that Mia has a boyfriend, to Jay’s disappointment. The next morning, the family goes to church. Jun hated the church, as he believed that they weren’t doing enough to help the poor or root out abuse.

Tito Maning takes Jay on a tour of Manila. He brings Jay to several national museums and humiliates him about his lack of knowledge about Filipino politics. Tito Maning rails against American colonialism in particular, which Jay knows nothing about. Eventually, Jay asks Tito Maning what happened to Jun. Tito Maning confirms that Jun’s death was drug-related and berates Jay for his distrust of Duterte’s war against drugs; he claims that none of the American journalists writing about the Philippines understand what’s going on. He also says that he found drugs in Jun’s room four years ago and told Jun to quit or leave. Jun chose to leave. Tito Maning also says that he never took the letters. Jay can’t argue with Tito Maning, because he doesn’t know what’s true and what’s false.

Tito Maning forces Jay to leave his home, so Jay goes to stay with his Tita Chato and her partner, Tita Ines. Tita Chato tells Jay that Tito Maning actually kicked Jun out of the house after finding marijuana without giving Jun any options. Jun then came to Tita Chato and lived with her for a year, but he unexpectedly left. Tita Chato used to be a lawyer, and she tells Jay that it’s impossible to seek justice for Jun. The Filipino courts are corrupt and almost everyone supports Duterte. Later, Jay finds a business card for a bookstore in one of Jun’s books and decides to follow up on it with Mia.

Mia visits Jay to tell him that she spoke to the bookstore owner, who gave her Jay’s mailing address in the slums. He also mentioned a website Jay was running but wouldn’t say more. Mia, Jay, and her professor Brian Santos find a young woman named Reyna living at Jun’s address. Reyna tells Mia her story: she was a trafficking victim. Tita Chato runs an organization to help trafficking victims and took Reyna’s case. Reyna lived at Tita Chato’s with Jun before Tita Chato placed her in another household. However, a man in her new home was abusive and Jun helped Reyna escape. They fell in love and secretly moved in together. Reyna claims Jun wasn’t using or dealing drugs—in fact, he helped addicts. But Reyna also says that Jun left her a year ago.

A few days later, Jay goes to the beach with Tita Chato and Tita Ines and considers his place in the Philippines: he both does and doesn’t belong here. After finding Grace on social media, Jay realizes that Grace was the one who sent him the DM. She claims it was to figure out if Jay cared about Jun. Jay also realizes that Jun was running a subversive Instagram account, GISING NA PH!, which featured photos of drug war victims and was likely why he was killed. To honor Jun, Grace is now running it herself.

Everyone goes to visit Jay’s grandparents. Jay finds Jun’s letters in Grace’s luggage. When he confronts her, she reveals that she took them to keep a tangible memory of Jun, and Jay offers to share them with her. That evening, Jay confronts Tito Maning, saying that Tito Maning lied about Jun’s death. Tito Maning admits that he was keeping tabs on Jun—that’s how he knows Jun was doing drugs. Jay accuses Tito Maning of murdering Jun, and Tito Maning reacts violently. He tells Jay to ask his Tito Danilo about Jun if he doesn’t believe Tito Maning.

Grace and Jay find Tito Danilo at church, where he works as a priest. He tells them that Jun was indeed doing drugs. In fact, Tito Maning asked Tito Danilo to help Jun recover, and Tito Maning even bribed his colleagues to take Jun off the government watchlist. Worse, Jun sold drugs, too. It was a vigilante who killed him, probably someone trying to feed their family with the government reward money. Jun is devastated: he thought learning the truth would bring justice, but instead it’s ruined his memories of Jun. Grace blames herself for not noticing Jun’s addiction, but she insists that Jun was still a good person. She suggests that they host a belated memorial service and Jay agrees.

At the memorial, everyone shares their memories of Jun. Even Tita Ami speaks about her son, and Tito Maning comes to comfort her. Jay hopes that confronting Jun’s death will force Tito Maning to think about the drug war’s harm, and he realizes that no one is just good or just bad. Back at Tita Chato’s, Mia visits Jay and tells him that Brian Santos wants her to write an article about Jun. Jay worries that readers will judge Jun for selling drugs, but Jay eventually agrees to the article as long as he and Grace can co-write it. Jay is about to return to the United States and is sad to leave Mia, even though she has a boyfriend.

Jay’s dad picks him up from the airport, and Jay tells him that he wants to take a gap year to travel in the Philippines. Jay shares everything that happened with his dad, hoping to improve their relationship through honesty. Jay’s father listens, and Jay realizes that truth can heal.