On Coronation night the ex-pat community in Hong Kong gathers for a celebration party, and twenty-one-year-old Joy falls in love at first sight. She is engaged within 24 hours, but will not see her fiance again for a year. Fifteen years later, when Sabine, her mother and grandmother are brought together, not only a deeply buried family secret is discovered, but also some fundamental truths: about the conflict between love and duty, about women's choices, and about mothers and daughters.