The book explores two forms of rebellion. Sang Huin, a Korean American teaching English in Seoul, finds his native land conservative and stifling; and in his silent and lonely asphyxiation he writes of Gabriele, a single mother who finds family and domesticity, that which Sang Huin so much wants, and even work outside the family all forms of demeaning prostitution that take away time for more cerebral activities. Hers is a more overt rebellion that brings its own negative repercussions