When an 18-year-old adoptee from the U.S. returns to China to live with her birth family for a summer, this is no mere summer vacation, but a quest to find history, meaning and identity. Determined to piece together the fragments of her mysterious past, Ricki embarks on a journey to understand the past so she can know who she is now, unraveling complex relationships and events against the backdrop of culture, politics, gender and ethics.