Communist-held Laos, seventeen-year-old Nou Vang immigrates to America with her disabled mother and traumatized three-year-old nephew. None of them speak English, so Nou can only nod and smile at the American sponsors who meet them at the airport.

When their sponsor's son, Peter, becomes Nou's tutor, she grabs this chance to overcome the final barrier to her dream of an education. As her education grows, so too does her love for Peter.

When Nou's mother falls ill and refuses to see an American doctor, Nou gives into her demands for a shaman to perform a healing Hmong ritual. But the shaman's son, Xa, becomes infatuated with Nou and begins testing her as a potential wife.

In addition to the attacks Nou faces from fellow students and prejudice in the small Wisconsin town where they live, she must now handle a new sinister threat-a marriage demand supported by her mother and the male dominated Hmong community. Fearful of being expelled from America, Nou struggles with the clash of American and Hmong cultures and the growing rift between herself and the young man she is falling in love with.

When Xa tries to force her into marriage, Nou must once again risk all for her freedom.