Summary

The novel opens as eight-year-old Maizy’s mother, Charlotte, is working on a commercial set. Charlotte is a food artist who makes food look attractive while it is being filmed. To do this, she uses replacements such as glue for milk. Maizy’s Oma and Opa, her grandparents, arrive to watch. This is the first time they meet Maizy in person, but they quickly leave, unhappily shocked that Charlotte is not using real food.

Chapter 2 opens three years later as Maizy arrives in Last Chance, Minnesota, with her mother to visit her grandparents. They arrive at the Golden Palace restaurant, the Chinese Restaurant that Oma and Opa own. In the next few chapters, Maizy learns about where she is. Her grandfather is in a wheelchair. His illness is why they are there. Oma says that all their recipes are from ancient Chinese recipes...