Qian Julie Wang came to America when she was seven years old after her father had to leave China to avoid arrest for speaking out against the government. They lived illegally without documents, in constant fear of deportation. His father, an English professor, now worked in menial jobs, and his mother, a mathematics professor, worked in sweatshops, often with Qian. American xenophobia, constant fear and hopeless poverty have turned once successful teachers into defenseless, tormented people full of despair. The little girl's world collapsed: at home there were quarrels between her parents, at school - bullying and ridicule from students and teachers. Qian's only outlet was the library, where she learned the language, read books and dreamed of one day breaking out of this hell.