First, Chang introduces readers to a young man named James, who is at Union Station on December 21, trying to save a man from a heart attack. Despite trying his hardest to save the man, however, he fails. James leaves Union Station and meets up with his brother, Ming, and his father, Leo, in their hometown of New Haven, Wisconsin. There, James' parents run a Chinese restaurant which has been the subject of quite a bit of controversy in the community because of Leo's narcissism and vulgarity. Leo's wife has abandoned him and gone to live somewhere else because of his bad behavior.
When James and his brothers (including another brother, named Dagou) visit their mother in her new home. There, they visit a fortune teller, who tells their fortunes. Ming, the fortune teller says, will fall gravely ill. The fortune teller also tells Dagou to stay away from his family's restaurant. Despite that, he accepts his father's request to take over the family restaurant. The fortune teller also tells Leo that he will die in a particularly heinous way; Leo, however, ignores her.
Dagou starts to plan a Christmas party. As that gets closer, however, more family drama ensues. There is drama surrounding the restaurant and particularly, the drama surrounding Dagou's love interests. Regardless, the party goes on as planned. And Dagou spends much of his saved money to make the party as impressive and lavish as he can for his friends and family and the community as a whole.
At Dagou's party, his father makes a surprise announcement: he has sold their restaurant, leaving Dagou unemployed. Later, Leo tells the family that it was all a joke and that he had not sold the restaurant. Dagon, however, is still enraged with his father and takes matters into his own hands. When his father is in the restaurant's freezer, he takes its key, thus not allowing Leo to leave and causing him to freeze to death. Leo dies.
A case is subsequently brought against Dagou, who the District Attorney (DA) claims intentionally killed his father. Evidence is presented and the DA uses racist stereotypes to advance their case and turn the jury against Dagou. Dagon and his lawyer show that the police's case is bogus and that many of their confessions were coerced. Nevertheless, Dagou's family is destroyed because of the allegations.
More evidence is presented and Dagou is ultimately found guilty of his father Leo's murder. The Chao family works to appeal Dagou's sentence because they think the prosecutor's case was poor. However, things don't come to fruition and Dagou goes to prison, shattering the lives of most of his siblings.
