In the small southern town of Chin-kiang, two young girls from verydifferent worlds collide and become inseparable companions. Willow ishardened by poverty and fearful for her future; Pearl is the daughter of aChristian missionary who desperately wishes she was Chinese too. Neithercould have foreseen the transformation of the little American girlembarrassed by her blonde hair into the Nobel Prize-winning writer and oneof China's modern heroines, Pearl S. Buck. When the country erupts in civilwar between the Nationalists and the Communists, Pearl and Willow arebrutally reminded of their differences. Pearl's family is forced to fleethe country and Willow is punished for her loyalty to her 'culturalimperialist' friend. And yet, in the face of everything that threatens totear them apart, the paths of these two women remain intimately entwined.