Nai Nai refuses to spend money on a doctor for sick toddler Three, and Three dies of tuberculosis.

The Ang grandparents and Father flee to Qingdao, leaving Mom and the four daughters behind to guard the property.

Communist soldiers arrive at the Ang estate and order Mom and the girls to vacate their home immediately.

Hai is forced to kneel on frozen ground at a public denunciation rally, insulted, pelted with debris, and beaten.

Mom and Hai forge a travel permit using red ink and a homemade soap stamp to gain safe passage.

The women reach Qingdao and find shelter with Mom's brother Uncle Sen, who tells them the Angs have fled to Taiwan.

Mom sells her ruby ring to pay for medicine and a doctor to treat Lan's tuberculosis; Lan survives with damaged legs.

Mom hands Cousin Wei the family's last gold tael, and he purchases train tickets south toward Hong Kong.

The family crosses a bridge from Shenzhen into Hong Kong, and Mom quietly wishes Hai a happy birthday.

A letter from Nai Nai arrives saying Father has met a nurse and intends to remarry; Mom is devastated.

A letter from Uncle Jian arrives offering to secure entry permits and bring the women to Taiwan.

The women arrive in Taiwan and are greeted by Uncle Jian; Father, who did not know they were alive, welcomes them.

Hai loses her temper and shouts at Nai Nai to defend her mother; Nai Nai strikes Hai across the face with her cane.

Father accepts a new teaching post in Douliu and moves Mom and the girls into their own home, away from Nai Nai.

Hai watches proudly at the airport as her daughter boards a plane to the United States to pursue a master's degree.

The story opens with the Ang family's systematic devaluation of women, crystallized when Nai Nai refuses to fund a doctor for toddler Three, who dies of tuberculosis. When the Communist Revolution arrives, the family elders flee and abandon Mom and the girls, who face soldiers, a brutal denunciation rally, and a grueling journey on foot to Qingdao. From there, the women trade their last valuables for survival and eventually cross into Hong Kong, where refugee life forces them to build new lives from nothing. After years in the camps, a devastating letter from Nai Nai and then a hopeful one from Uncle Jian redirect the family toward Taiwan and a long-delayed reunion. In Taiwan, Hai refuses to accept Nai Nai's cruelty, and Father's unexpected act of moving the family into their own home marks a turning point. The story closes in triumph as Hai watches her own daughter board a plane to America — a victory earned across generations.

The headline events driving the Ang family's survival and reunion.

A fourth daughter, Li-Lan, is born to Mom, driving Nai Nai to lock Mom out of the family home in fury.

During a summer outing, cousin Chiao surprises toddler Three with a frog and Three tumbles into the river.

Three Ang farmworkers warn Mom that the Communists are killing landlords and the family's name is on their list.

Farmworker Mr. Zhang lets Mom and the girls shelter in his shed alongside a donkey, chickens, and his dog.

Zhang's dog Lucky follows the women on their long walk to Qingdao instead of turning back home.

The United States Navy departs Qingdao and the People's Liberation Army officially takes control of the city.

Cousin Wei recounts how his nephew was forced by the Communists to kill his own parents; Wei pledges to help the women.

Mao Zedong publicly declares the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Aboard the crowded southbound train, Hai breaks down in tears and confesses she does not want to go to Taiwan.

At the Mount Davis refugee camp, the family befriends displaced businessman Mr. Chong and a young amputee soldier, Biao-Wu.

A violent rainstorm tears through the Mount Davis camp; Di salvages a writing brush from the wreckage.

Communist marchers passing through Mount Davis during the Dragon Boat Festival are attacked by Nationalist-sympathizing refugees.

After the Dragon Boat clash, British authorities relocate the Mount Davis refugees to the remote settlement of Rennie's Mill.

Yei Yei forbids Di's romance and arranges for her to meet Jia-Shen instead, sending Hai along as chaperone.

Mom finally refuses to kneel before Nai Nai, declaring that son Ming now earns enough money to support her.

Before the revolution tears their world apart, a series of overlooked moments foreshadow the struggles ahead — another unwanted daughter born, a child's accident in the river, and whispered warnings from loyal workers. The family's flight begins with small acts of kindness from strangers like Mr. Zhang, who shelters them, and a farmyard dog who refuses to leave their side. In Qingdao, a changing government and the women's conflicting instincts about survival create new friction, while a train journey south marks a breaking point of grief and honesty. Life in the Hong Kong refugee camps brings new friendships, a violent political clash, and a forced relocation to an even more remote settlement. The story's final arc in Taiwan introduces a chaperone encounter that changes Hai's future and a long-overdue moment when Mom claims freedom from Nai Nai's cruelty. Together, these events reveal the quieter forces that shaped every major turning point in the narrative.

The supporting moments that fill in the human texture of the family's journey.

Communist soldier Comrade Lao inspects Mom's calloused hands, declares her a victim, and takes Hai to the rally in her place.

During the denunciation interrogation, Hai screams that she and her sisters are powerless girls who cannot control their father.

Mom disappears overnight and returns hauling the family's wheelbarrow, which she stole back from the Communist-occupied house.

Hai collapses from a panic attack at a checkpoint outside Qingdao; Mom places her in the wheelbarrow and pushes her through the gate.

Watching the ruby ring traded for Lan's medical care, Hai resolves to earn her own money and never depend on others.

Biao-Wu is turned away from Taiwan for being disabled; Hai bitterly concludes the island admits only those powerful men deem worthy.

Hai sets up a calligraphy stand near the Hong Kong post office and earns enough money to buy the family a celebratory meal.

Di tries to tear up Uncle Jian's letter offering Taiwan permits; she and Hai argue bitterly over whether to leave Hong Kong.

Arriving at the Ang house in Taiwan, Nai Nai calls the women savages and refuses to let them enter until they have bathed.

Di and Hai confront Father directly, naming everything they endured — including Hai's torture — while he abandoned them in Zhucheng.

Teacher Lu invites Hai to join his cram classes after catching her eavesdropping outside the room; her grades rise sharply.

Mom sells her jade bangle — a treasured heirloom from her own mother — to pay for Hai's school entrance exam fee.

Hai receives an acceptance letter from Shi Fan, the country's top teaching school, and feels for the first time she has a future.

Hai discovers Mom is giving baby Ming all the formula while daughter Hua receives only rice water, and erupts in anger.

Di's lover abandons her after she becomes pregnant; after the pregnancy is terminated, Di's spirit breaks and she drifts away after an arranged marriage.

This pool captures the hidden turning points where private decisions and sudden revelations reshape the characters' futures. Hai's ordeal at the denunciation rally — being chosen as her family's stand-in and screaming her powerlessness — alongside her mother's daring theft of the wheelbarrow reveal the women's capacity for both suffering and defiance. In Hong Kong, Hai's calligraphy stand and Biao-Wu's rejection from Taiwan sharpen her determination to become financially independent on her own terms. The bitter fight over Uncle Jian's letter marks the decisive break in the sisters' shared vision, while a direct confrontation with Father in Taiwan finally gives voice to years of buried grief and abandonment. Mom's sacrifice of the jade bangle opens the door to Hai's education, but even after all they have endured, Hai discovers her mother still gives her son preferential treatment, forcing a reckoning with the limits of change. Di's heartbreak and slow disappearance from the family serve as a warning about what is lost when women are denied the freedom to choose their own lives.

The pivotal decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that changed everything.