Sui Sin Far realizes early in her life that she is viewed as "different" by other children. Although they are surprised that she is actually Chinese, she is already aware that she is treated differently once people discover this. She remembers playing with a friend when a third child comes over to say that they shouldn't play with Far because her mother was Chinese. Her playmate takes no notice and still wants to play with her, it makes Far reject the other children. She does no better with adults; at a party one of the adults in attendance calls her over, studies her carefully, and proceeds to remark upon which of her features is typically Chinese and which of her features appears European.
The family move to Hudson City in New York, where Far and her brother encounter other Chinese people for the first time. Far finds them rather unusual and is particularly intrigued by the way that they dress. She ultimately gravitates towards them and her Chinese heritage when she and her brother are attacked for their racial heritage; she decides that she is actually proud to be Chinese.
Later in her life, Far relocates to Eastern Canada, but it seems that wherever she goes she is persecuted by white people because of her race. It would be understandable for other children to view her with suspicion or fascination - after all, they have never seen anyone like her before and are curious. However, much of the racism comes from adults. As she grows older, the racism seems to take on a more serious form, as she is threatened with violence. Even those who do not harbor any aggression towards her view her as some kind of sideshow, and ask intrusive questions about how she lives and what the habits of her culture actually are. This troubles her. Whilst some people ask questions out of a genuine interest she is conscious that most of the reactions she provokes come from racism. She begins to question her own identity, and to wonder what her true culture really is. She has never been to China and is quite unaware of much of the Chinese culture, so she reads as much as she can about it. This actually helps her develop a sense of enormous pride in her heritage, which no longer troubles her.
Far becomes a journalist and works at her local newspaper. Her assignments are generally confined to reporting on what happens in the Chinese community, which she sees as her chance to open people's eyes about their Chinese neighbors and to defend her fellow Chinese Americans. Her job enables her to meet a wide variety of Chinese American people, but she faces racism from the Chinese who view her with dislike and suspicion because she is multi-racial.
Later, Far moves back to America and settles in the Midwest, the latest stop in her nomadic life. Whilst nobody is directly racist to her face, her employer and co-workers make negative comments about Chinese people in her presence, because they are unaware that she is part Chinese. She reveals her heritage to her employer. He surprises her by apologizing for his ignorance and he promises that he will make an effort to educate himself, but whilst her openness within her workplace ultimately creates a positive change, news of her ethnicity spreads through town like wildfire and she once again has to learn whom to avoid if she is to avoid the prejudice of those who feel negatively about her. She relocates to San Francisco, still working as a journalist, and charged with going into the Chinese community to convince them to purchase newspaper subscriptions. The Chinese community are not welcoming; they are suspicious of her because she appears white, and even when she lets them know about her heritage they do not believe that she is in any way Chinese.
Far concludes her memoir by admitting that she has remained unwilling to conform to a Chinese stereotype; she has shied away from that. She is loyal to both her Chinese and her American heritage, but keeps them separate from each other, leaving her with a rather fractured personality, but a pride in both countries.
