The occasion of his father's death prompts Adam to leave San Diego to attend the funeral in the Philippines. There, he is inexorably drawn into a rite of passage more terrifying than anything he could have ever been prepared for. He becomes both the object and tool of a rage that demands to be understood as well as obeyed.

As an Asian American, Adam hasn't realized how vague and tenuous his connections with his family and his origins have become. Upon landing at the Manila airport, he discovers a cell phone and photographs of his mother and sister hidden in his bag. When the phone rings, the caller informs him that his mother and sister have been kidnapped. The disembodied voice then coerces Adam on a journey that will force him to experience a world that might otherwise have been his own. He is fueled by the will to save his family.