When Laos is taken over by a dictator, Ong's father follows the teachings of Henry David Thoreau and others and starts to protest the government, which leads to him being taken by police. Years later Ong becomes a writer in LA, where he works for a media company that is focused on reader views and click-bait stories, since the traditional news story has died. Ong writes about climate change and politics, which has lead to him having very low views. Ong's boss asks what story he is working on, and he explains that he is writing about a flower at Walden Pond that Thoreau wrote about and is threatened with extinction from climate change. Ong's boss insists he write a more interesting story, and she threatens to fire him if he does not increase his views, which would lead to him having to return to Laos since he must work for his Visa. A very successful writer at the company gives Ong a chance to interview a Laotian singer as a chance to increase his views. The singer, Kulaap, and Ong bond over their shared ties, and she pretends to take him on a date to increase his views. However, Ong gets angry and leaves the car when Kulaap fails to emphasize with his exasperation with clickbait stories. Ong is confronted by his boss once again, who asks him to publish his interview with Kulaap. Ong refuses, and instead publishes the story about the Bluet flowers at Walden Pond. The piece gets more reads than expected, and the story ends with Ong narrating that he gambled on Thoreau just like his father did.