Summary

In Chapter 1, the first person narrator Sang Ly has a dream about walking with her grandfather as a child. He tells her that life will not always be difficult, and that today will be a lucky day. When her husband, Ki, wakes her from the dream, Sang Ly realizes she is no longer a child, and remembers her complicated life in Stung Meanchey, a large waste dump in Cambodia. While Sang Ly tries to feed her perpetually sick child, Nisay, she tells him about her dream. Later, the rent collector, Sopeap Sin, who Sang Ly and Ki call The Cow, visits their home in search of the rent. Sang Ly recalls a myth about Sopeap that links her to the gods, which Sang Ly doubts, while Sopeap berates her for not having all of the money. Sang Ly says they will have the...