"In the American Society" is told from the perspective of Callie Chang, the child of Chinese immigrants to America. As the child of immigrants, Callie must balance two vastly different worlds: the new culture of America and the old culture of China.
After Callie's parents came from China to America, they opened a breakfast restaurant to save money and provide their two daughters an excellent life. Much to their surprise, the Chang family quickly becomes incredibly wealthy from their new restaurant. With their new wealth, the family begins to adopt an American lifestyle (for example, they buy a station wagon), and Mr. Chang, the family's patriarch, begins to talk about his life and family back in China. Still, Mrs. Chang chastises her husband for acting like the two still live in the Chinese culture and says that he should try to adapt better to American culture as she has.
Meanwhile, Callie and her sister fit seamlessly into American culture, which makes their mother jealous. Mrs. Chang decides that the best way she could find her way in American culture is to join a country club, something which her daughters encourage.
Although Mr. Chang does kind things to his employees, he treats them horribly at work, causing many of them to quit. And as more and more employees leave and after several employees are fired, Mr. Chang's business suffers.
Mr. and Mrs. Chang begin to live separate lives. Mr. Chang doesn't tell his wife about the new employees he has hired that are not eligible to work legally; Mrs. Chang doesn't tell her husband about the country club.
Eventually, Mr. Chang gets into a fight with one of his employees, who calls the police and reports his illegal employees to immigration. Those employees are arrested; Mr. Chang posts their bail and then scales back his involvement in the restaurant.
Then, in the short story's next section, Mr. and Mrs. Chang are invited to a party by the Lardner family. They decide to go shopping for a suit for Mr. Chang but find that it is difficult to find a suit suitable for him at a reasonable price.
The Changs, including Callie, go to the Lardners' party. There, Mrs. Chang is hit on by other people. The two mingle with the people around them and try to make amends with several people who they have wronged, including Jeremy, who attempts to have sex with Mrs. Chang.
Mr. Chang's actions at the party inspire confidence in his daughters, who start to see their dad in a new light. They realize how much they love him but first must find the car keys that they lost at the party. They realize that they are at the bottom of the Lardners' pool but decide to return to the house the next day to retrieve them.
