A detective story of a sort with the protagonist, Kiet Hallam, an adopted daughter of African American and Vietnamese descent, searching for her true identity. Set in both the U.S. and Vietnam, and written from the perspective of both Americans and Vietnamese affected by the war, the novel explores the lasting damage of war to the soldiers who fought on both sides, to their families, and to the displaced and wounded children born during their parents' conflict. Kiet and her adoptive father, Alex Hallam - a Vietnam veteran working out his own tormented past through his passion for sculpting - travel to Vietnam. There, at Marble Mountain, a formation near Danang that is famous for its stone carvers and cave shrines, both find unresolved secrets from the past that connected them to each other even before Kiet was born.
