The American Roommate Experiment opens with one of the novel’s protagonists, Rosie Graham, anxiously facing what she assumes is a home invasion of her current New York abode. To complicate matters, the apartment belongs to her best friend, Catalina “Lina” Martín-Blackford, as Rosie’s own residence is uninhabitable due to flooding. (Lina is the protagonist of Elena Armas’s previous novel, The Spanish Love Deception, and is currently on her honeymoon in Peru with her husband, Aaron; Rosie appears in this novel as a secondary character.) Rosie hears curses and obvious signs of someone trying to break down the door. Her phone goes off and she knocks over a piece of furniture, alerting the possible burglar that there is someone inside.

The man on the other side of the door starts to talk to Rosie, and she decides to call the police. The man surprises her by laughing, assuming she is joking: “I’m standing in the hallway. How have I broken in? I didn’t even make it inside” (5). He continues to argue with her, much to the dismay of the 911 dispatcher, referencing a woman who gave him a key to use. When he finally mentions a relative, Rosie recognizes the man’s accent as possibly Spanish.