In the 2010s, the wave of going to the United States to have children swept across the country. Lin Wan, a middle-class woman, was moved by the beautiful vision spun by the agency. She made a bet with her husband, hoping to gain citizenship in the United States and pave a shortcut in life for her child. Deliberately concealing the fact that she was pregnant, she applied for a tourist visa, repeatedly recited the immigration response, and boarded the flight to Los Angeles alone.
In Rowland Heights, Southern California, palm trees sway in the wind and Chinese shops can be seen everywhere, as if the hometown has been transplanted to the other side of the ocean. In a white single-family villa, there are several pregnant women from China who are expecting to give birth. Underneath the seemingly leisurely and comfortable days of pregnancy, the undercurrent never stops: deeply discounted service contracts, shockingly high medical bills, secret comparisons and rumors among women. The owner of a confinement center wanders in the gray area of the law to make money from his compatriots, but his heart is always shadowed by the fear of federal investigation. Across the ocean, the domestic business suddenly encountered a crisis, and financial pressure and emotional jet lag continued to erode Lin Wan's marriage.
The illusory peace suddenly collapsed. The FBI and Homeland Security launched a joint early-morning raid, and a harsh knock on the door shattered everyone's dreams. The mother who was pregnant with Liujia was displaced overnight and was trapped in a desperate situation in a foreign country. Some people came forward to testify in exchange for immunity, and some people left visa fraud records and gave birth in a difficult and panicful manner.
They finally received their blue American birth certificates and obtained the citizenship they had dreamed of. But after returning to China, the rift in the marriage was difficult to heal, and real problems followed one after another. The novel tears apart the gilded illusion of the other side and asks profound questions: Is the nationality gained through lies and risks a destiny?
