[1] The novel follows an unnamed Japanese American male protagonist who has worked on the Rental Stranger app as a "rent-a-stranger" for a decade in New York City imitating various characters on behalf of his clients: boyfriends, in-laws, funeral mourners, and others.

When another client, Darlene, hires him to masquerade as an alcoholic brother and subsequently tries to find out more about his pretend family, however, the man's career is tested.

Huffington Post included the novel on a list of 8 books to read for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, stating that "Kat Tang’s inventive debut novel perfectly captures what it feels like to be lonely and searching for human connection in our modern life of parasocial relationships and contractual experiences.

[6] Library Journal called the debut moving, with clean prose that counterbalanced the story's complexity, and concluded: "An emotional character study that doesn’t rely on easy answers to complicated questions of identity, isolation, and familial love.

[8] Seeing the service as a possible solution to needs pertaining to personal image in Japan, Tang decided to bring it to the United States fictitiously in order to examine what the fundamental needs of American people might be.