The Kohs' American Hagwon

John and Helen Koh, once comfortably middle class in Korea, see their lives upended by a shocking betrayal from John's oldest friend and then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Determined to start again, they leave Seoul with their three children—Bo, DH, and Mido—for Sydney and later settle in Southern California, where new prospects open for the children while the parents' experience and education count for little as they focus on securing their children's futures.

From cramped apartments and luxury gated communities to schools, churches, hotel rooms, nail salons, law firms, and fried-fish shops, friends, relatives, and foes keep moving through one another's lives.

Through those years the Kohs place nearly all their hope in education as the path to success and security for the next generation, even as family ties and memory twist and fray but rarely break.

The world around them grows less merciful, minor gestures carry far-reaching effects, and sacrifice offered for loved ones and even for strangers becomes a private act of faith.