At the beginning of the book, an older Chinese-American man named Henry Lee stands outside the Panama Hotel in Seattle.
He's watching a crowd gather around because something special has been discovered in the hotel—the belongings of thirty-seven Japanese families who were interned during World War II.
He thinks about his family, especially his wife Ethel who has recently died. Their son is now going to college nearby.
Henry finds himself staring at the things being brought out and thinking about the past… and the people who owned these objects.