Having recently immigrated to Brooklyn from Hong Kong, Kimberly Chang and her Ma take up work at a Chinatown sweatshop under the employment of her Aunt Paula who finances their immigration expenses, squalid apartment, and Ma’s leukemia treatment. Here she meets Matt, a boy of the same age working with his mother and brother, who offers her company and friendship, which she accepts. Over the course of the next few decades, Kimberly must choose between love and the life she wants to live.