Ngoc Mai writes of Vietnamese history from the perspective of a common person. As a child, she unwittingly aided her father to undermine French colonial rule. He did not survive. She tells of her life as the elder sister caring for siblings, and later as a young mother of six. She was run down in the street and left abandoned by an allied soldier, a life-changing event. She lived a life of dignified poverty eking out a living selling food, charcoal, and used clothing. After the fall of Saigon, she departed with her children by boat on a perilous voyage to safety.