San Francisco

At the start of the novel, Alexandra and J live and work together in San Francisco. Though Alexandra does not always like her job, she relies upon her life here. So when she must decide whether or not to leave the city when J goes away for school, Alexandra grows anxious. In San Francisco, she feels she knows herself and her purpose. After moving, Alexandra often thinks about San Francisco with longing, wondering if she should have left, and if she can return.

Davis

Davis is the city in California where Alexandra spent much of her childhood, and where her mother lives in the narrative present. After moving back from Shanghai, she and her family settled in Davis. Though the town is the place where her parents' marriage dissolved, it is also where she met and fell in love with J. The December before leaving San Francisco...