Lola is a Filipina nanny working for a white family—an unnamed father, his wife Claire, and their son Richard—in the United States. She sends money home to pay tuition for her five children's educations. She has had a mentor, Dee, who advised her on how to satisfy the parents and be a good nanny. She loves Richard, feeling closer to him then her own children, since she's spent so much time with him. Richard is a violent child. He hits his mom, bruising her above the eye. Lola takes him out to buy candy, to get him away. She notes Claire carries with her a sense of guilt, as many mothers in America do, about working and not focusing on her child. Lola takes Richard on a playdate with the kids another Filipina woman, Rita, nannies. The two compare jobs. Lola is jealous of Rita's pay. They discuss how rich white couples all seem to want Filipina nannies and Rita says it's because they are quiet. Lola plans to take Richard to visit the Philippines with her when their parents go on their anniversary trip in Europe. Claire allows Lola and Richard to collect loose change from around the house to save for the trip. They collect a significant amount of change, including over 100 dollars in pennies and take it to the bank. The woman at the bank says she can't accept the pennies. Richard becomes angry and throws a roll at her face. The woman looks at Lola with hate, Lola notes, because "she is hurt above the eye and [Lola] is not white." In a rage, Richard tries to throw the rest of the pennies in the trash can. To calm Richard down, Lola tells him a story about the man she worked for before his parents, who said she could keep the pennies in his office then changed his mind after she carefully rolled them all and he saw how much money it was. She says the same thing must have happened to that man; he got rejected at the bank, became angry, and threw the pennies in the trash. Then she fishes the pennies out of the trash and they use them to buy candy for Richard and coffee for her. She says it can be their special fund. At home, Claire worries about Richard's anger and considers taking him to see a psychologist. Lola cheers him up. She takes her dinner alone, as always, because Dee warned her American families would invite her to eat with them not knowing how much privacy they would later want. Besides, she likes to relax and watch TV while eating alone. She revels in the moment of comfort.