A young Chinese American female goes to a majority Asian salon in the United States. She's the only one that can speak English and is the youngest client. She begins to form a relationship with her hairstylist Lily, an ethnically Chinese woman who grew up in Vietnam. The woman can understand Cantonese and mandarin as she was raised In China, but lies to Lily and says that a white couple in America raised her. Lily asks the woman what her occupation is, and she explains that she's an aspiring writer but currently an English teacher. The woman goes to Lily's salon regularly, and Lily reveals her past. When Lily grew up in Vietnam, she fell in love with a sixteen-year-old Vietnamese boy named Tuan. However, when war broke out between China and Vietnam, Lily's parents determined it was too dangerous to live in Vietnam. Tuan begged Lily's parents to take him with them, but Lily's parents declined. Lily and her parents moved to California, and she started to work at a salon, married and had children. Lily then says that she's never contacted her old lover again. As the woman visits the salon more often, Lily gives her more information. On the next visit, Lily explains that after she moved to America, Tuan cried on the family's porch for three days. He then promised never to love another and moved to another city. In that city, a woman fell in love with him, and when Tuan became sick, that woman took care of him. Tuan and the woman got married, and he has three daughters. When the woman returns for another haircut, Lily reveals that she got Tuan's contact and called him up. The woman is surprised and imagines it was heartfelt. Instead, Lily explains that as soon as Tuan heard her voice on the phone, he apologized profusely. He then started crying and couldn't stop. One of his daughters had to take the phone, and the daughter explained that he was still in love with her. Lily then talked to Tuan's wife, and she told Lily that Tuan keeps a photo of them by their bedside. The woman immediately feels jealous of how Lily had such an impact on Tuan. Lily asks the woman to write her love story, but the woman thinks Lily's story is unreal. On the next visit, Lily shows the woman a photograph of Tuan and her when young. The woman is still in disbelief at the love story, and the photo makes her feel sad. Lily asks her to write their love story, but the woman refuses. The woman never returns to Lily's salon. Later, she says that the pain she felt seeing the picture was similar to her son's death. She also says that she could never be a writer. When her children were in preschool, she was supposed to send care packages and notes telling her children that everything would be ok. However, the woman could not, making her doubt her writing abilities.