A stroke victim, a mysterious woman from the past, and the fateful events from a half-century before drive this story of love, secrets, and Americans in China during the Second World War. In 1989, a stroke victim is brought to St. Matthews Care Facility in Albany, California, unable to speak or move. Lisa, a rebellious Chinese-American hospital intern, learns that his name is Quentin, he was born in Beijing to American missionary parents, and he has no next of kin. When a grandmotherly Chinese woman appears at his bedside and claims to have known him during the War, Lisa is left with more questions than answers. The woman’s strange disappearance after Quentin’s untimely death sends Lisa on a lifelong search: why did Quentin’s former lover need to see him one last time?