Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school to a San Francisco brothel to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been - including the ones she most wants to leave behind - to finally claim her own name and story.