It is early June 1870. In the starving Moon Pond Village, 18-year-old Sing Ye, nicknamed “Worthless Girl,” is taken by her father to Rice City under the pretense of selling their meager vegetable harvest. On a boat at the dock, a woman has them put their thumbprints on a contract written in English, which they can’t read. The woman gives Worthless Girl’s father 40 Mexican dollars for the “sale” of the vegetables and then offers her a bowl of rice and pork. As Worthless Girl eats on deck, the boat leaves the dock. The woman tells Worthless Girl that she has been sold to a criminal “tong” (gang) called the Hip Yee Tong and is being sent to the US.

In Hong Kong, she’s led onto the steamship Great Republic and put on deck with other terrified young women. She briefly sees a beautiful, richly dressed Chinese girl with bound feet (Dove) being escorted to the upper deck. Petal and the other women are forced into the ship’s hold, a dark, filthy, and crowded room where they will spend the voyage. Over the next two weeks, an older woman named Auntie Lau acts as their guard, giving them new “flower names” like Petal, Poppy, and Lotus. The women debate their futures; some cling to the hope of an arranged marriage, while others realize that they have been sold for sexual exploitation.

The narrative jumps to 1926, where an 82-year-old woman named Moon writes the story of her, Dove’s, and Petal’s lives in Los Angeles. She remembers 1870, the year the two young women arrived. 

In 1870, Los Angeles was a small, violent town where the 179 Chinese residents faced legal and social discrimination. Moon lived on the Calle de los Negros with her husband, Dr. Chee Long “Gene” Tong, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. Gene was respected by both Chinese and white clients and was optimistic about the future. Moon was more aware of the pervasive anti-Chinese sentiment. Living with a permanent foot injury—as a result of an infection from infant foot-binding—she was also ambivalent about some Chinese traditions, especially for women and girls.

Moon assisted Gene at his clinic, which was located behind the funeral home of William Abbott. One day, they treated a German patient named Mrs. Mueller for tuberculosis before Gene went to court to vouch for Leong Quai, a Chinese laundry worker in a dispute with a white customer. Gene secured the man’s pay. Moon reflects on their quiet life and their unfulfilled desire for a child.

Aboard the Great Republic, Dove and her brother, Ah Guey, travel in relative comfort. One night, Ah Guey tells her the celestial love story of the Spinning Maid and the Cowherd, comparing their own impending separation to the lovers’ fate and promising to always watch over her. Upon arriving in a foggy San Francisco, they’re met as planned by Headman Sam Yuen of the Nin Yung Tong. After a brief goodbye to her brother, Dove is escorted by Sam to the California, a paddlewheel steamer that will take them to Los Angeles.

On July 8, the Great Republic arrives in San Francisco. Petal and the other women from the hold are herded into a warehouse. When one of the women, Chrysanthemum, protests being ordered to wash naked in front of male guards, she is beaten. The women are taken in groups to a room filled with hundreds of Chinese men. Petal is forced onto a stage, stripped naked, and auctioned off. The bidding for her becomes a contest between two tong leaders from Los Angeles: Headman Yo Hing and Headman Sam Yuen. Sam’s bid of $800 wins. He gives Petal new clothes and takes her to the California. She briefly passes Dove before Sam forces her into the hold, locking her inside a crate for the journey south.

On the steamer California, Dove waits for Headman Sam, feeling curious about the peasant woman she just saw him with. Headman Sam escorts her to her cabin and then to the dining room for lunch. Their meal is interrupted by Headman Yo Hing; Sam and Yo are openly hostile, revealing their rivalry. When Yo tries to buy Dove, Sam declares that she’s Old Man Sing’s bride and under his protection. Sam tells Dove that they were once like brothers before falling silent. Dove feels Yo’s menacing gaze throughout the rest of the meal.

In 1926, Moon recalls the day in 1870 before Dove and Petal’s arrival when a new patient, Mrs. Lorette Grascy, visited the clinic with her spoiled and ill-mannered 10-year-old son, Jack. Desperate for a cure for her fatigue and severe menstrual bleeding, she was nonetheless suspicious of Chinese medicine. She openly complained about Chinese workers taking jobs like laundry. Gene calmly diagnosed her and treated her with herbs and moxibustion. That evening at home, Gene made a comment about raising future children with better manners, highlighting the fact that Moon had never conceived a child. The couple ended the day in strained silence.

On July 11, 1870, the California arrives. Dove dresses in her red wedding clothes. She and Headman Sam travel by carriage from the port through a dry, dusty landscape toward Los Angeles. When a wheel breaks, a handsome, silver-adorned Mexican man named Cayetano Apablasa stops to help. As the carriage is righted, Dove tumbles out the door, loses her balance, and falls into Apablasa’s arms. After he helps repair the wheel, he rides off. When the carriage finally reaches her new husband, Dove is horrified to find that Old Man Sing isn’t the handsome merchant she imagined but a fat, bald, old man.

Moon recalls watching from her window as Headman Sam arrived and Dove stepped from the carriage to meet Old Man Sing. Sing took Dove’s elbow, led her first into his shop in the Coronel Block, and then took her to Moon’s apartment, asking for Gene to perform a “virginity check.” Since Gene was away, Moon sent Sing away to wait and listened to Dove’s concerns about her new husband. Their talk was interrupted by a commotion outside the window: A woman—Petal—was fighting her way out of a crate on a wagon. She tried to run but was caught by Headman Yo. Sam jumped off the wagon and kicked her until she stopped moving, while Yo and his henchman Three-Finger Lee watched. The men dragged the now-unconscious Petal toward a nearby brothel. Moments later, they arrived at Moon’s apartment and ordered Moon to tend to Petal so that she was ready for her first “customer.” Once the men left, Petal revealed that she was only pretending to be unconscious.

In Moon’s apartment, Petal, Dove, and Moon talk together. Dove and Moon tend to Petal’s injuries. Moon reads Petal’s contract aloud, confirming that she has been sold into four years of sexual slavery disguised as “indentured servitude,” with harsh clauses that make eventual freedom virtually impossible. Despite these terms, Petal remains defiant, vowing to survive and one day return home. Inspired by Petal’s resolve, Dove accepts her own circumstances. The three women form an immediate, powerful bond.

Moon recalls how, after Headman Sam retrieved Petal, Dove stayed with Moon and asked about her life. Moon recounted her story: Her mother died in childbirth, an infant foot-binding infection left her with a permanent injury, and she was considered unmarriageable. Her father, a doctor in Hong Kong, arranged her marriage to his apprentice, Gene, before Gene left to work on the American railroad. The couple didn’t reunite for years, and they had been unable to conceive a child. When Gene arrived home, Moon spoke to him in English, assuring him that her conversation confirmed that Dove was a “virgin” and that a physical examination was unnecessary. Gene trusted his wife’s judgment, and Moon reflected on the separate and uncertain futures facing Petal, Dove, and herself.

Gene performs a brief, non-invasive examination of Dove and confirms his wife’s assessment. Moon takes the terrified Dove back to Old Man Sing’s apartment. On the way, Moon explains that, because their husbands’ businesses are in the same building, they will be able to visit each other. Dove confides her fears about her wedding night. Moon tells her that Chinese men in the US are lonely, and for “a few short minutes” (86), she can bring her husband comfort and help him forget his hardships. Upon reaching the door, Moon gives Dove a final push inside to begin her new life.