Memoirs of a Geisha tells the story of Nitta Sayuri. Her actual given name was Sakamoto Chiyo. When she was young her mother became very ill with cancer. Her elderly father decided to sell her and her sister because they were so poor. Chiyo ended up being sold to the Nitta Okiya (a Geisha house). Chiyo does not have an easy life there and is often picked on by Hatsumomo, a geisha at the okiya. One day she is sad and upset and ends up crying on a bridge (in the book she is upset because she is no longer going to be trained as a geisha thanks to Hatsumomo whereas in the movie she is upset because she had just found out about her parents' deaths). The Chairman (Iwamura Ken, who is the chairman of the Iwamura Electric company) passing by her (drawn by her beautiful and unusual eyes) stops and tries to make her stop crying. He gives her his handkerchief and money to buy a treat (in the movie version he takes her to buy it). Chiyo is very moved by his kindness and this moment basically changes her life. She decides to work hard to become a famous and beautiful geisha so that she can be worthy of The Chairman and catch his attention again one day.After becoming a geisha Chiyo's name becomes Nitta Sayuri. She becomes one of the most famous geisha and does cross paths with The Chairman again, but she is not able to have the kind of close and lasting relationship she hopes for. He instead tries to push her toward his good friend, Nobu. While Sayuri does grow fond of Nobu, she never gives up her hope of having a relationship with The Chairman.
Skip ahead to several years later (I'll just mention that for a period of time during World War II all the geisha houses close and Sayuri, along with the other geisha, are forced to undertake the hardship of manual labor). Nobu is planning to become Sayuri's danna once he regains his fortune (think of a danna as a sort of patron - a wealthy man who basically pays for all of a geisha's expenses and who the geisha usually has a physical relationship with...one's danna is usually married). Sayuri wants to stop that from happening so ends up planning to have Nobu walk in on her in a compromising situation with another man. Pumpkin, however, out of jealousy, arranges for The Chairman to walk in on them instead. (I haven't mentioned Pumpkin previously, but she also resided at the Nitta Okiya and had hoped to be adopted into it after becoming a geisha. Sayuri was given this honor instead and Pumpink became very bitter and resentful toward her as a result.) This actually ends up working in Sayuri's favor because we find out that The Chairman has not forgotten that little girl on the bridge from years ago - in fact he had Mameha seek her out. (Mameha is another character I neglected to mention earlier. She took Sayuri under her wing and trained her to become a geisha.) This incident also prompts him to become her danna. I'll take a second here to mention another book/movie difference. In the book, Sayuri uses the handkerchief The Chairman gave her as a little girl to prove her identity to him. In the movie, Sayuri lets it drift away in the wind after he walks in on her trap set for Nobu. I really loved that scene in the movie where she lets it drift into the wind. It was so heartbreaking yet beautifully filmed.
The Chairman and Sayuri's ending differ quite a bit in the two versions of Memoir of a Geisha (or more acurately, one gives us a more definitive ending while the other leaves it up to viewer interpretation). In the movie version we simply see The Chairman forgiving Sayuri, kissing her and then them presumably going off to have a life together. In the book we know that after he becomes her danna he has her retire from being a geisha. Sayuri moves to New York and becomes his mistress (one more thing I neglected to mention, The Chairman is married with children so Sayuri could never be more than his Mistress). He even buys her a teahouse for her to perform in and they have a son together. We know from the book that Sayuri lives out the end of her life happily with him.
I have always loved the relationship between Sayuri and The Chairman. The fact that Sayuri's life was changed by a man she met as a child who showed her kindess has always struck me. Add to that the fact that she never forgot him and strived to be able to be part of his world in the future along with the fact that he never forgot that little girl either and you have the makings of a truly beautiful love story. They might not have a typical romantic 'fairytale' style ending (since she does end up becoming his mistress after all seeing as how he's married ^^;), but they found each other and end up living out their own unique and special version of 'happily ever after.'