The story begins in Los Angeles, California, where the Kim family must leave their familiar neighborhood and the only place the twins, Chan and Young, have known.

They travel across the country, crossing the symbolic and literal Continental (and cultural) Divide to get to their new home.

After growing up in the cultural diversity of Los Angeles, Chan and Young must adjust to the completely white, small-town Midwestern culture of Iron River, Minnesota. This is a town that values a statechampion football team enough to paint its accolades on the town's water tower.