Just turned twelve, Lily is the oldest of the three children in her Chinese American family living in San Francisco when the 1906 earthquake hits; her family has survived the quake, but as the city starts to burn Lily and her younger brother are separated from the others and must get to the safety of Oakland across the bay and hope that the rest of their family and friends are there waiting for them--but between the fire and the anti-Chinese violence...

"It's the summer after seventh grade, and Ruby Chu is feeling more lost than ever. Her best friends aren't speaking to her. She ended the year in detention. Her sister's about to leave for college. Ruby's still grieving her grandfather Ye-Ye when it seems like no one else is. And without Ye-Ye and his annual scavenger hunts across San Francisco, their hometown doesn't really feel like home anymore. Things get worse when Ruby's forced to spend the...

Twelve-year-old Ariana, a tomboy, and her ladylike cousin Laila, recently arrived from Afghanistan, do not get along but they pull together when a rival Afghani grocery store opens, rekindling an old family feud and threatening their family's livelihood.

Sparks fly when Beatrix Adams, seventeen, who strives to be a medical illustrator, meets Jack, one of San Francisco's most notorious graffiti artists, but even as Beatrix begins to uncover the secrets that have left Jack so wounded, her own family secrets threaten to tear them apart.