Kim and Ma arrive in New York City and move into Aunt Paula's dilapidated, pest-infested Brooklyn apartment.

Ma takes a job at Aunt Paula's Chinatown clothing factory and tells Kim she must also work there afterschool.

Kim starts public elementary school, struggling with the English language barrier and cultural differences from her first day.

Principal Mrs. LaGuardia calls Kim into her office and suggests she apply to a prestigious private school.

Kim travels alone to Harrison Prep, where Dr. Weston interviews her using word problems instead of personal questions.

Kim's full scholarship to Harrison Prep is announced publicly at her sixth-grade graduation ceremony.

Aunt Paula produces Kim's Harrison acceptance letter at the factory and becomes flustered that her niece was accepted.

Kim starts at Harrison Prep and is teased by a boy about the rhinestones on her discount uniform skirt.

Kim is falsely accused of cheating after picking up classmate Tammy's fallen cheat sheet during a test; Curt defends her.

Kim passes a grueling oral exam before the entire math and science faculty, who applaud her at the end.

Kim realizes she has feelings for Matt at the same moment he begins dating a girl named Vivian.

During a factory health inspection, Matt pulls Kim into a bathroom stall and the two kiss for the first time.

Matt's mother dies from a heart attack and he turns to Kim; they have sex and the condoms break.

Aunt Paula confronts Ma and Kim with two Yale acceptance envelopes, triggering a fierce argument between the sisters.

Kim breaks up with Matt but cannot go through with her scheduled abortion and chooses to keep the baby.

Kim and Ma arrive in New York from Hong Kong, landing in a dilapidated Brooklyn apartment and working nights at Aunt Paula's Chinatown sweatshop. A supportive principal spots Kim's potential and steers her toward a prestigious private school, where she earns a full scholarship against all odds. At Harrison Prep, Kim battles poverty, prejudice, and a false cheating accusation before proving her brilliance to the entire faculty. As senior year approaches, she quietly falls for her childhood friend Matt, but their relationship takes a devastating turn after his mother's sudden death. Kim receives her Yale acceptance the same week she discovers she is pregnant, forcing a life-defining choice between love and ambition. She breaks up with Matt and ultimately cannot go through with the abortion, choosing instead to raise their son while pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor.

Kim and Ma's journey from sweatshop to Yale.

Aunt Paula reverses her promise to house Kim and Ma with her family, sending them to a separate rundown apartment.

Kim and Ma seal their broken apartment windows with garbage bags and build five protective altars in the kitchen.

Kim skips school during her first week, spending cold and hungry days alone watching a black-and-white television.

Kim befriends Annette after returning to school with a forged absence note, and the two begin a lasting friendship.

Mr. Al closes his used furniture store and tells Kim the entire neighborhood is scheduled for demolition.

Kim urges Ma to run away from Aunt Paula's control, but Ma refuses, citing the debts they still owe her.

Ma confronts Aunt Paula about knowing their neighborhood would be demolished; Aunt Paula acknowledges it but minimizes Ma's concerns.

School bully Luke picks fights with Kim every day afterschool until another girl diverts his romantic attention entirely.

Kim visits Annette's clean, comfortable Brooklyn home to work on a school project and is struck by its neatness.

Aunt Paula announces a pay cut for skirts and warns Kim and Ma they are free to leave if unhappy.

Matt is moved to the dangerous steamer as punishment for a joke and gives Kim his jade Kuan Yin necklace for safekeeping.

Matt takes Kim and Ma to a music store in Times Square, where Ma plays a Chopin nocturne on a showroom piano.

Matt pays for Kim and Ma to take the Staten Island Ferry and see the Statue of Liberty for the first time.

Kim and Ma's oven breaks down in winter; Kim bluffs a dishonest repairman into leaving without touching it.

Ma gets a new job at a jewelry factory and Annette's mother helps Kim and Ma secure a better apartment in Queens.

From the moment Aunt Paula breaks her housing promise, Kim and Ma are thrown into a grim existence in a crumbling Brooklyn building, improvising to survive harsh winters and persistent vermin. Matt's friendship at the factory brings warmth to the grueling work, while Annette's comfortable home gives Kim a tantalizing glimpse of another kind of life. Aunt Paula's exploitation sharpens over time as she cuts wages and dismisses legitimate concerns, slowly pushing Ma and Kim toward independence. Small acts of courage accumulate — Kim confronting a bully, standing up to a dishonest repairman, challenging her aunt — shaping her into someone who refuses to be silenced. A trip to the Statue of Liberty offers a rare moment of wonder shared between Kim, Ma, and Matt, a brief reprieve from daily hardship. After years of struggle, Ma lands a new job and a realtor friend of Annette's helps them escape the decrepit apartment for a real home in Queens.

The daily struggles and small victories of immigrant life.

Mr. Bogart accuses Kim of cheating on her very first state capitals quiz and gives her a zero.

Kim finds a family photograph in Ma's belongings and reflects on Ma's lost parents and her own dead father.

Ma reveals she was supposed to marry the American-born Uncle Bob but chose Kim's father for love instead.

Kim meets her assigned English tutor Kerry at Harrison and discovers that Kerry is also a scholarship student.

Kim publicly humiliates bully Greg by announcing loudly that he keeps seeking her attention because he has a crush on her.

During a full summer at the factory, Kim calculates that Ma earns well under two dollars an hour.

Dr. Copeland calls Kim into the office to confront her about scoring suspiciously high on accelerated math and science tests.

Matt takes Kim on his pizza delivery motorcycle to his father's secret underground gambling parlor in Chinatown.

Ma begins studying for her naturalization test each night at home using a cassette tape and a study book.

Curt breaks his leg skiing and calls Kim for academic help, drawing her into the popular social circle at Harrison.

Kim opens her SAT score envelope at the factory and discovers she has received the highest possible scores.

Annette shows up at Kim's apartment on naturalization exam day and sees the true extent of Kim and Ma's poverty.

Matt arrives at Harrison Prep, sees Kim laughing with Curt, and tells her his mother has just died of a heart attack.

Kim tells Ma she is pregnant and wants an abortion; Ma responds by sharing her own story of marrying Pa for love.

Kim rides her motorcycle to Matt's building and watches from the street as Vivian comes out and embraces Matt on the fire escape.

From her very first day in an American school, Kim faces accusation and misunderstanding that force her to learn how to advocate for herself in a world that underestimates her. Her mother's quiet revelation about choosing love over security plants a seed that will bear fruit years later when Kim faces the very same dilemma. At Harrison, Kim excels while hiding her double life, finding a tutor who understands her situation, outwitting a bully, and enduring faculty suspicion of her remarkable scores. Matt's secret gambling den, her perfect SAT results, and Annette's shocked discovery of Kim's poverty each mark moments where the gap between Kim's two worlds snaps sharply into focus. Pregnancy forces the novel's defining choice, and Kim's response — keeping the baby, leaving Matt, pursuing Yale — reveals exactly who she is. A motorcycle ride to Matt's building years later, watching Vivian embrace him on the fire escape, brings the painful but necessary clarity that she made the right decision for everyone.