In the Philippines, he stays with his mother's best friend from childhood, "Aunt" Clara Natividad, who has become a wealthy and powerful businesswoman but led guerilla fighters during the war and earned her fortune through ethically questionable business practices.

Unnerved by his experiences in Manila, Ben returns home to Seattle, where he finds himself caught up in an escalating cycle of violence within the Filipino immigrant community.

The Philippine concept of barkada, a notion of loyalty to one's peer group, plays an important role in his experiences in Seattle after his return.

It is often discussed in scholarly surveys of Filipino American literature, alongside such seminal works as Carlos Bulosan's America Is in the Heart and Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters.

[5] Besides the descriptions of life in Cebu City and Manila, the novel refers to the general history of the Philippines from the time of Japanese control to the beginning of the revolt against the Marcos regime, including the student protests at American Embassy in 1970.