Relates the story of two women who struggle for economic independence in silk work in 1926 in a small village in China.

San Francisco ghostwriter Ruth Young finally begins to understand her Alzheimer's-afflicted mother LuLing's preoccupation with ghosts and curses when she reads LuLing's writings of her dark backwoods childhood in 1920s China-- where LuLing's mute, disfigured nursemaid committed suicide, and a nearby cave held what may have been the bones of the lost ancient hominid Peking Man.

The story of five Chinese brothers who elude execution by virtue of their extraordinary individual quality.

A little duck finds adventure on the Yangtze River when he is too late to board his master's houseboat one evening.

Shan Tao Yun, an exiled former investigator from Beijing, rushes across the Tibetan plateau in the aftermath of a venerated schoolteacher's murder--meanwhile, young boys who were the teacher's students are murdered one by one.

Kwan moves from China to live with her family in San Francisco and develops a relationship with her half sister Olivia. She confides in Olivia about the ghosts she hears telling her about love. Years later Kwan and her ghosts advise Olivia about her marriage.

The Thirteen Orphans, who represent the twelve animals of Chinese zodiac, plus the Cat, return to Earth where they must use their magical abilities to defend themselves and their loved ones from unseen enemies.