Joan Liang’s life is a series of unexpected events. She never thought she would live in California, nor did she expect her first marriage to implode --- especially as quickly and spectacularly as it did. She definitely did not expect to fall in love with an older, wealthy American man and become his fourth wife and mother to his youngest children. Joan and her children grow older, and one day she makes a drastic change: she opens the Satisfaction Café, a place where customers can find connection through conversation. With humor and grace, Joan creates a space for meaningful relationships and constructs a lasting legacy.

In 2006, Julia Lerner is recruited by Russia’s largest intelligence agency. By 2018, she’s in Silicon Valley as COO of Tangerine, one of America’s most famous technology companies. In between her executive management, self-promotion and work in gender equality, she funnels intelligence back to the motherland. But now Russia is asking for more, and Julia is getting nervous. Alice Lu is a first generation Chinese American whose parents are delighted she’s working at Tangerine. One afternoon, Alice discovers some unusual activity, and now she’s burdened with two powerful but distressing suspicions: Tangerine’s privacy settings aren’t as rigorous as the company claims they are, and the person abusing this loophole might be Julia Lerner herself.

Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, aficionado of all-inclusive vacations and bargain luxury goods, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For years, Stanley has claimed that he’s worth a small fortune. But the time is now coming when the details of his estate will finally be revealed, and Stanley’s family is nervous. As his death approaches, the Huangs are faced with unexpected challenges that upend them and eventually lead them to discover what they value most.