In the designated area, Ernest must get permission from a Jew colluding with the Japanese to do anything, including sell his watch and buy food. With the money from his Rolex, he rents a cot in a shack owned by an elderly Chinese man, Old Liang. Golda and Mr. Schmidt live nearby. He feels alone and hopeless.

Ernest explores the designated area, inured to the corpses he sees. The zone is bounded by the river, a Japanese military base, and the bridge back to central Shanghai. The last side borders a poor Chinese neighborhood, separated only by a sign disallowing stateless people to cross it. Ernest knows that he could run, but he has nowhere to go. His situation is even worse than when he arrived in Shanghai.

Little Star’s wails change Aiyi’s mind. She stays, trying to make rice though she never has before. She neglects to put water in with the rice and it becomes burnt sludge. Aiyi realizes that Little Star is no longer in the room and finds her outside, about to be taken by a man. Almost losing Little Star forces Aiyi to confront her self-absorption. She tells Little Star that she will take care of them and makes the child promise not to run away.

Aiyi pawns all her possessions to keep her and Little Star fed. She tries to get a job as a dancer at a club but is turned away for having a child. Relatives give Aiyi food and a place to sleep for a month, but they begin to resent her. She suggests that she’d like to be married but her relatives say that she would have to give up Little Star. Aiyi returns to the room off the alleyway and begins stealing from the mansions that once belonged to Europeans or Americans. She finds some pantry staples and sells a box of Twinkies for fuel and necessities. Aiyi finds a maid’s dress and wears it to make her theft even easier.

Looking for mansions, Aiyi comes across the neighborhood bordering “The Designated Area for Stateless Persons” (346). Ernest is standing there and they are both shocked by how worn the other looks. Ernest goes to Aiyi and she realizes that he still loves her, but it doesn’t matter. She feels that he ruined her life and tells him goodbye.

A Japanese soldier forces Ernest back into the designated area. He wants to know what happened to Aiyi but is grateful to have seen the woman he’ll always love. He understands why she hates him.

Ernest works peeling taros for Old Liang and is paid in sweet potatoes. He is grateful for the job and no longer has the energy to care about how the war is progressing. Golda summons Ernest to Mr. Schmidt, who is very ill. Ernest wants to take Mr. Schmidt to the hospital, but the old man refuses, as most die there. He congratulates Ernest and Golda on getting married. Outside, Golda confesses that she told Mr. Schmidt that they were engaged because she wants to have some kind of life before dying in the disease-ridden designated area. Ernest thinks of Aiyi and goes to walk away but hears a new baby cry and thinks of the phrase, “[l]ove is stronger than death” (352). He sees that Golda is thin and sickly and finally agrees. They are married at the synagogue and receive a honeymoon gift of sweet potatoes from Old Liang. Ernest knows that Golda is the “good Jewish girl” his mother hoped for and resolves to be a good husband (353), despite not loving her as he had Aiyi.

Sorebi speaks sorrowfully of the horrors of the designated area, as told to her by her interviewees. Aiyi says that no matter how hard things get, people forget eventually, which is why she wants the documentary. Aiyi hears a melody that reminds her of “The Last Rose of Shanghai” and can’t remember if she told Ernest of that song’s Buddhist undertones about karma. Sorebi listens to the music and Aiyi imagines Ernest in front of her. Sorebi asks if the edge of the designated area was Aiyi’s last sight of Ernest.

Aiyi steals and goes through trash to keep herself and Little Star going. She hopes for the end of the war, but her only news is propaganda from the occupation government. Occasionally, Aiyi regrets being cold to Ernest, thinking that she ought to have confessed that she gave up their daughter.

Hearing a noise outside, Aiyi opens the door and Ying lurches inside. He’s been shot and needs help. Aiyi detests him for colluding with the Japanese but gives him the opium he asks for. He tells her that he’s not a traitor but won’t explain further. Aiyi removes the bullet. In the morning, Ying reveals that he led a successful mission to destroy a truck of Japanese radio equipment. He learned top secret information that he can’t share and almost killed Yamazaki but was shot. They share a moment of grief for Cheng. Aiyi updates her brother about Peiyu and Little Star. Ying reveals that he has a Japanese radio transceiver in his bag.

With two to take care of, Aiyi goes to search Sassoon’s hotel. It is a dilapidated mess. The door guard tells Aiyi that the Japanese troops who were living in the hotel were sent to fight Chinese forces. For several days, she observes the guard, and eventually she finds her chance to enter the hotel. It is a ruin, but she finds things to sell. In the Jazz Bar she finds cigarettes and the gramophone, which makes her think of meeting Ernest over cocktails with Sassoon. Aiyi cries. Even if she forgave Ernest, it wouldn’t change the horrible events set into motion that night.

Ernest dreams of Aiyi. He wakes up sweaty, still with the fever he’s had for a few days. Golda sold a gold ring after they were married, which got them enough to buy a little furniture and rent an attic. Ernest has adjusted to life with Golda, feeling that his desire to be a good husband gives him purpose. He also has a job as a cobbler’s assistant, which pays him enough to buy one loaf of bread a week. Golda wakes up, also sick with symptoms of a fever, coughs, and a rash. He feels bad for dreaming of Aiyi, as he must accept his new life.

Little Star and Aiyi walk past a group of children being sold and see a man buy a little girl. Aiyi trembles thinking that she could have been Little Star, then bursts into tears imagining what happened to her half Jewish, half Chinese daughter. Thanks to Little Star, Aiyi now knows that she would have “grown to love” her child (367).

Aiyi goes to the train station to see how much it would cost to visit Peiyu, but the Japanese have destroyed the train tracks. Aiyi is crushed that she has no way of finding her child. She goes past the cinema and thinks of Ernest. He expressed love the last time they saw each other, making Aiyi think that he would help find their daughter. The city looks beautiful as the sun rises.

Mr. Schmidt passes away, and Ernest, Golda, and the others get permission to take a bus to the graveyard to bury him. They carry Mr. Schmidt to his grave in a casket, but they must roll him out of it to be reused. Ernest stands with Golda, remembering how Mr. Schmidt had a talent for talking to people, including Aiyi. Though he doesn’t say Aiyi’s name, Golda knows that he’s thinking of her, and she finally reveals that Aiyi came looking for him while pregnant. Ernest is horrified that Golda didn’t tell him, and he envisions a beautiful, different life for him and Aiyi and their daughter. Seized with fury as people throw dirt into the grave, he compulsively tries to dig the grave deeper around Mr. Schmidt, thinking that men should have second chances. He sobs on the bus home. Golda strikes Ernest over and over back in their apartment and he accepts the blows.

In the night, Ernest’s fever skyrockets and he becomes incoherent. When he awakens, Golda is dead next to him. Again, the refugees go to the graveyard and bury Golda. Ernest is overwhelmed by how many people he’s lost and remembers Golda as “true to herself” (373). He’s glad that in the cruel world, he shared “a happy interlude” with her (373).

Ying is excited to see American fighter planes in the sky and not the usual Japanese jets. Aiyi is glad that he’s recovered because she wants him to sneak into the stateless persons area and find Ernest. Aiyi begins pulling lice out of Little Star’s hair and crushing them, while Ying tells part of the secret information that he learned: The Americans are sending more fighter planes to the Pacific. When Aiyi asks Ying to find Ernest, Ying is upset and reminds her that Cheng died only a year ago, calling Aiyi “little sister” to assert his authority. Aiyi shares a memory of her, Ying, and Cheng as children flying a kite, thinking that remembering a loved one means that they’ll appear in your next life. Ying breaks down, calling Cheng “more than a brother to” him (377).

Ying won’t discuss Ernest. He tells Aiyi about Allied victories in France and New Guinea. Nevertheless, China is still under Japan’s thumb, the Nationalists having recently suffered major losses. Ying is demoralized and outright refuses to help Aiyi find Ernest.

Aiyi says that she ought to have forgiven Ernest when she saw him in the stateless persons area. Sorebi shows Aiyi two photos that she found yesterday in Sassoon’s archive: one of Sassoon and Aiyi at the Jazz Bar in 1940 and one of a little girl and Aiyi in 1946. In the latter, Aiyi thinks that she looks like a refugee. She cries looking at the photograph, saying, “[s]he’s perfect” (380). Sorebi asks if the little girl in the picture is Aiyi’s daughter.

Over a period of months, Aiyi visits the bridge leading to the stateless persons designated area. The bridge is a guarded checkpoint and the ferries no longer run. She starts to experience stomach pains and later develops a fever.

Ying is excited by something that he’s heard on the transistor: The Americans are going to attack Shanghai as Japanese troops leave the city to consolidate victories in central China. Yamazaki remains with a small regiment, and Ying plans to kill him. A group led by Ying is also going to attack the Japanese military base to assist the Americans. He tells Aiyi to leave Shanghai before the American attack, but she knows that if she leaves Shanghai, she’ll never track down her daughter, or Ernest. Ying comes home one day, furious after a rebel meeting was attacked; he barely escaped. He believes that there’s a spy. Aiyi tells him that he can’t do anything on his own, but Ying feels that “[t]ime is running out” (384).

Ernest keeps seeing a young Chinese man observing the jail. The man reminds him of Cheng. Ernest thinks of Aiyi, remembering how shabby and hungry she looked. He is worried, and he wants to see his child. Exhausted by his routine drudgery, he thinks that this life may last forever.

Ernest hears a “low, mourning” piece of music and follows it to find a man playing an erhu (a two-stringed traditional Chinese instrument). His love of music rushes back and Ernest weeps, understanding that since Miriam’s death, he’d cut off this love. He is filled with the energy to find Aiyi and his child. Yet, he can’t get permission to exit the designated area.

Walking by the young Chinese man several days later, Ernest recognizes him as Ying. He begs Ying to tell him where Aiyi is, and Ying says that he’ll do it if Ernest steals him a tank. Ernest feels that that would mean certain death but Ying is unmoved, telling Ernest that he destroyed Aiyi’s life—that Cheng “died for her” (389). Ernest feels deep sorrow at Cheng’s passing. He looks at the barren landscape of his daily routine and agrees to get the tank.

Aiyi holds the photos like treasure but says that the girl is Little Star. The photo is misdated; it was 1945, before Aiyi lost her foot and before Little Star was burned in the aerial raid. Sorebi asks about the raid: Americans bombed Shanghai in an attempt to finish the war, causing a fire that destroyed much of the city. Aiyi says that she was ill during the raid and forgot to lock the gate, so Little Star was in the streets when the bomb fell and was “burned beyond recognition” (391).

Sorebi again asks about Aiyi’s daughter and Aiyi tells herself to tread carefully. She tells a story of karma: After the war, a former American pilot converted one of the men who bombed Pearl Harbor to Christianity. Sorebi is confused. Aiyi says that “the niece [she] saved during the war would save [her] in the end” (392), and she explains that her niece went to the exhibit on Shanghai Jews and saw Sorebi’s name. Aiyi then shares the many details she knows about her daughter (Sorebi). Sorebi is shocked, asking how Aiyi knows so much about her life.

Ying says that he’s been searching for Ernest to no luck and suggests that Ernest is dead of illness like many others. One night, Ying packs their meager possessions, preparing them to leave from the docks at dawn. Aiyi can’t sleep and has a dream of Ernest playing music. She wakes up and in a delirium goes outside, thinking that she still hears the music. She realizes that it is actually a siren, and bombers are heading for the Japanese military base—the same area in which Ernest is trapped.

Ying’s plan is for Ernest to steal the tank from the undermanned base while the American fighters attack. Ernest is in a trench, waiting to go under the base’s fence. Ying wants a captured American tank, but Ernest can’t tell the difference between the two tanks he sees. Knowing that he is not a trained soldier, Ernest almost gives up, until he remembers Aiyi helping him to find Laura Margolis. He creeps into the base and sneaks through it. He finds a tank with the engine running, its operator outside, and scrambles his way in the open top. Yamazaki and the operator shoot at him, but Ernest manages to get the tank going. It slams into a plane’s fuel tank. Ernest tries to leave before the inevitable explosion but can’t find the entrance. The tank slams into a wall. Through the dust, he sees Ying, yelling for him to stop the tank. Ernest can’t. Ying fires a machine gun at another tank behind Ernest. As the base explodes, the second tank hits Ernest’s, sending him flying.

Smoke fills the bridge and the area beyond it. There is no guard and Aiyi crosses into the stateless person area, yelling for Ernest to evacuate. An American bomber goes overheard and explosions shake the city. She tells everyone she sees to cross the bridge and helps an old man trapped under debris. The effort sinks her into the rubble. Immobilized, she screams. The line of buildings in front of her collapses, revealing the tanks and two figures. Yamazaki is beating Ying. Ernest appears and attacks Yamazaki, punching him until he falls. Exhausted, Ernest doesn’t see Yamazaki reaching for a gun on the ground. Aiyi tries to free herself but falls beneath the rubble. She hears shots followed by quiet. She forces her way out of the rubble, and Ernest seizes her hand. Ying killed Yamazaki and saved Ernest. The lovers weep, holding each other. Ying tells them to get out but won’t go with them. With the tank, he begins shelling the Japanese warship.

Ernest tells Aiyi that he has nothing left and she should leave. He’ll “die happy” having seen her one more time. She refuses, telling Ernest that she let their child be taken away and he must help her find their daughter. A bomber appears and Ernest manages to pick up Aiyi and run. The plane crashes on top of Ying, and Aiyi sobs. Nevertheless, they keep running, and they make it across the bridge. Aiyi has rusted metal in her foot and wouldn’t have made it on her own. Ernest promises that they will look for their daughter as long as it takes. Aiyi feels strange optimism and joy as they embrace. In the background, the cruiser burns.

Sorebi is the daughter for whom Aiyi has been looking—she even looks like Ernest. Sorebi thinks that Aiyi has made a mistake, but Aiyi knows about the birthmark on Sorebi’s ankle and that Sorebi’s parents adopted her while working in Hong Kong. Aiyi explains that she asked for the documentary so that Sorebi would hear the story of her relationship with Ernest. To demonstrate Sorebi’s resemblance to Ernest, Aiyi shows her a picture of Ernest before he died six years ago. The two had a life together after the war.

Sorebi is in disbelief and asks what happened next. Aiyi reveals that Phoenix is Little Star. Aiyi had her foot amputated after the raid, and Ernest carried her and Little Star to Peiyu’s parents. Peiyu was glad to see Little Star and gave Aiyi the address of the family she placed the baby with. Little Star wanted to stay with Aiyi and Peiyu accepted. The trio returned to Shanghai, but a new family was at the address. They searched orphanages until the Chinese Civil War began afresh and Mr. Blackstone helped them get to the US. The Communists wouldn’t allow Aiyi back into Shanghai because she’d married a “foreigner,” and the Cultural Revolution ended any chance of accessing information.

Aiyi, Ernest, and Little Star lived in Texas, but the southerners were hostile to Aiyi. Ernest moved them to Vancouver where they began a chain of restaurants, leading to an international hospitality business. Aiyi’s war injuries prevented her from having more children. Sorebi says that her adoptive parents loved her, but after they died and her aunt said that she was adopted, she was devastated. The reason she came to Shanghai was because the aunt spoke of it. Sorebi admits she tried not to dwell on “this thought that I was not wanted” (412). Aiyi cries, saying that they’ll never get the past back but that she and Ernest missed and loved their child every minute they were apart. “Her face a river” (412), Sorebi looks at her mother.