Memories of Two Deaths: Chen Yu, a top architecture student, is reborn as Lin Xiangyang, an undocumented immigrant. Carrying memories of falling from a building in his previous life and suffocating inside a shipping container in this one, he begins anew in the kitchen of a Flushing restaurant.
The Identity Dilemma: He has a forged Arizona driver's license and works every day under the shadow of immigration inspectors. Even coughing has to be suppressed just to survive.
Foreshadowing of Fate: A black ledger hidden in the restaurant's freezer, and the mold stains on the basement walls, have a mysterious connection to the last image he saw before falling to his death in his previous life.
The Price of Rebirth: His language system is in disarray, making his thoughts shift uneasily between Chinese and English. Taste memories leave him unsure of his own identity, while the aftereffects of suffocation linger in his body.
The story opens on the protagonist's perilous daily life in a Flushing restaurant kitchen. Details like hiding in the freezer and the mystery of the ledger reveal the struggles of undocumented immigrants, while planting clues to the supernatural mystery of his rebirth.
