This powerful narrative, winner of the 1993 Associated Writing Programs award for the novel, focuses on Galveston, Texas, and a community of newly arrived Vietnamese. Struggling to maintain a balance between Vietnam and America, they live with one foot in each world. Close-knit families, now fragmented, dream of the "kingdom of elders left behind", young girls shoulder responsibility far beyond their years, and homesick professionals, puzzled by American customs, strive to belong while clinging to the rituals that sustain them.