This volume is a memoir that centers on the life of the author's family in Shanghai during the Chinese civil war (1927-1950). The author's parents broke with Chinese tradition and arranged their own marriage. In their courting years, watching first-run movies in Shanghai in the early 1930s, they were attracted to the strong-willed American actress Katharine Hepburn and recognized each other's determination to be independent. The author's father was a hyperactive man who chose a mobile career in the Chinese military and befriended the wealthy T.A. Soong, met Hepburn and became romantically involved with other American actresses in Hollywood. In the meantime, while raising their children and still living with her in-laws and parents in China, his mother became devoted to Western Christianity and eventually "walked across China" during the Japanese occupation with three of her children to reunite with her husband in California in the 1940s. Lee reveals how his parents struggled to mesh American and Chinese images and values.

" ... the story of the Lee family--a saga spanning four generations, two continents, and a century and a half of Chinese history. In the masterful hands of acclaimed author Gus Lee, his ancestors' stories spring vividly to life ... "--Dust jacket.