1950. It’s the coldest winter in decades, and 28-year-old Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight to cover a battle in the mountains of North Korea when her plane is shot down. As she emerges from the fallen aircraft onto an icy field surrounded by the enemy, Ellie is sure it’s the end...until a woman pushes her way through the crowd and claims Ellie as the lost daughter that she’s been searching for since the last war ended. Ellie is taken in by her rescuer --- a woman who calls herself “Emma” --- and the Paks, a pastor’s family. As the war intensifies, Ellie convinces Emma and the Paks to travel south towards an elusive promise of safety, and where Ellie insists they are more likely to find Emma’s real daughter, stuck on the other side of the frontlines. Emma's decision to claim Ellie, and Ellie’s choice to take her hand, will connect their lives forever.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother --- abused by the family for failing to birth a boy --- finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed. Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape, embarking on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.