"Keith Chen, the second son of a traditional Taiwanese family of seven, runs away from the oppression of his village to Berlin in the hope of finding acceptance as a young gay man. The novel begins a decade later, when Chen has just been released from prison for killing his boyfriend. He is about to return to his family's village, a poor and desolate place. With his parents gone, his sisters married, mad, or dead, there is nothing left for him there....

Four sisters living with their mother in New England during the Civil War without the guidance of their father, who is away serving with the Union army, learn about life and love as they grow up.

Sid, the rebellious son of Kwan, a savage Hong Kong triad boss, escapes to Taiwan upon enraging his father's adversary, a powerful underground business leader. Hiding out in the mountains, Sid encounters a group of Zen drummers. Their mesmerizing art, rigorous training, and austere way of life pique the hostile urban young man's interest and he asks to join the group. Although Sid despises his father, he is turning out to be a younger version of...

A patriarch and his three sons, in turn of the century Montana, find themselves at odds with each other when each brother falls in love with the fiance of one.