Gish Jen follows Hattie Kong, a retired teacher and descendant of Confucius, as she starts over in a small New England town struggling with changes that mirror larger American transformations. Hattie, grieving her husband and best friend, tries to find peace in Riverlake, a town where traditional New England values conflict with cell phone towers, big box stores, and the presence of a Cambodian refugee family that challenges the community's assumptions. The novel braids Hattie's story with that of the Chhungs, immigrants traumatized by the Khmer Rouge who are building new lives while their children assimilate into American teen culture. Jen explores how different generations navigate cultural change, how trauma echoes through families, and how communities incorporate or resist newcomers. Hattie's Chinese heritage and American upbringing give her perspective on the Chhungs' situation while her age and education set her apart from longtime Riverlake residents. The novel examines how small towns change, how faith functions in secular America, and how individuals construct identity from multiple cultural inheritances. Jen writes with wit and warmth about serious subjects, creating characters whose struggles illuminate broader questions about belonging, belief, and what makes a community. The book asks what it means to be American in a country continuously remade by immigration and globalization.