Maureen C. Wartski Livres

As an infant, Mai was adoped straight off a boat from Hong Kong by Leo and Vivian Houston in Serena, Iowa. Now, at fifteen, a painful racial incident spurs her to find out more about her Vietnamese roots. The search takes her to Boston, where Mai's biological aunt, Lien Van Tranh, owns a restaurant. But her aunt proves to be less than cordial. Now Mai is more confused than ever, and the worst is yet to come . . .

Fleeing from agents of the new communist government in Vietnam, an old man and three children begin an endless and seemingly hopeless struggle for survival as boat people.