The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Tenorio, Lysley. The Son of Good Fortune. HarperCollins, 2020.

The Son of Good Fortune is comprised of 32 chapters, which oscillate irregularly between present day Colma, California, and flashbacks to the fictional desert community of Hello City, California. The novel is told from the perspective of an unnamed third-person omniscient narrator, who offers descriptions of its protagonist’s emotions and memories in their narration.

The novel begins with a prologue, which describes Maxima Maximo, Excel’s mother, engaging in a video chat with a man named Henry. Henry professes his love to Maxima, begging her to visit him in North Dakota. She shows him a gruesome wound across her stomach, telling him that she suffered the injury in a violent typhoon, and he offers to pay for her treatment. Thanking him profusely, she turns off the webcam and peels away the fake wound.

In Chapter 1, Excel Maximo boards a Greyhound bus to San Francisco. Hours later, he arrives home and reunites with Maxima, who is surprised by his presence. They interact awkwardly, and he lies about his time away from home.

In a flashback, the narrative traces Excel’s departure from Colma and arrival in Hello City. Though he promised his mother that he would return in a few months, he told his girlfriend, Sab, that he planned to leave permanently. He recalled when they met at a local cemetery and became instantly inseparable. Three months later, Sab invited him to embark on a journey to Hello City, an off-the-grid desert community in Southern California. They arrived at their destination and Excel met Lucia, Sab’s cousin who invited her to live in Hello City. She showed them their new living space, a tiny Airstream trailer, and Excel contemplated his new home.

Flashing forward to the present day, Excel walks to his old workplace, an espionage-themed children’s pizza parlor called The Pie Who Loved Me, and delights when he sees his old friend Z. Excel nervously approaches his boss, Gunter, to ask for his job back. He apologizes for his disparaging and brazen tirade the day he quit, and Gunter grants him his old job, with many probationary caveats.

In another flashback, the narrative recalls Excel’s tenth birthday. Maxima took Excel to Fisherman’s Wharf, treating him to all of the typical tourist activities before revealing to Excel that they are TNT, or “tago ng tago.” She explained that TNT is a Tagalog phrase that translates to “hiding and hiding,” that they are not American citizens, but undocumented Filipino immigrants who must hide in order to avoid deportation. Afraid of suffering the repercussions of revealing that he is TNT, Excel experienced his late childhood and teen years in a state of paranoia, fear, and loneliness.

In the present day, Maxima and Excel visit Grandmaster Joker’s grave. As a child, Maxima was Joker’s martial arts protégé, and later, he flew her to California when she was pregnant and had nowhere else to go. He became a father figure to Excel, but died nearly three years ago of cardiac arrest. When he died, keeling over in a booth at a Sizzler buffet, Maxima pretended to not know him, fearing that she and Excel would be questioned by doctors who would request to see documentation. Still guilty over their feigned unfamiliarity the day that Joker died, Excel is uncomfortable visiting his grave.

In flashbacks to Hello City, Excel began working for a local artist named Red, doing simple manual labor. Meanwhile, Sab worked long hours at Lucia’s soap company, Pink Bubble. He navigated his new life in the desert while continuing to keep his secret from Sab. She began to grow weary of her unexpectedly arduous job while Excel planted roots, happy to be anywhere but Colma.

In Colma again, Excel struggles to resist contacting Sab, who has requested that he not call while she makes a decision about her pregnancy. He breaks and calls her one day, and she reminds Excel that he burned down the Square in Hello City, revealing his reason for leaving and the source of his $10,000 debt.

After a difficult and abusive shift at The Pie, Excel asks Maxima for help. He lies about why he needs the money, but she agrees to think of a way to pay his debt. Excel sends Sab a baby onesie, hoping that Sab will see the possibilities of raising a family together. Maxima reveals her plan to Excel, enlisting him to perform as 14-year-old Perfecto in order to scam a man named Jerry Borger. They pose as Perfect and Perfecto, a mother and son living in poverty in a Philippine village, and develop a familial bond with Jerry via webcam and email.

Sab receives her care package and angrily calls Excel, telling him that his gift is manipulative, and that she cannot be pressured into making a decision. Distraught after his argument with Sab, Excel snaps at Maxima, telling her that she let Joker die alone in order to save herself.

Back in Hello City, Sab revealed to Excel that she was pregnant. In response, he confessed that he was TNT, and they fought about Excel’s secrecy and their future together. Excel angrily stormed away to the Square, and accidentally lit the Square ablaze while trying to perform a magic trick. The next morning, he confessed to Sab and Lucia that he was responsible for the destruction of the Square. They swore secrecy, but told Excel that he needed to leave Hello City and get the money to pay for the damages before he could return.

In the present day, Sab returns to Colma unexpectedly and breaks up with Excel, telling him that she needs to be alone. He is heartbroken, but continues with Maxima’s plan anyway, feeling obligated to pay his debt to Hello City. At the Pie, Z reveals to Excel that Gunter strangled him after discovering that he was stealing money with the intention of returning to Serbia, his home country. Excel vows to help Z, and tells Maxima that they need more money from Jerry.

She fabricates a story in order to have Jerry meet them in San Francisco, and after a successful night of in-person bonding, he agrees to give them the money they need to pay for Perfecto’s schooling. Feeling guilty and dishonest, he reveals to Maxima the truth about what happened in Hello City. He pays his debt in full, but decides that he cannot return to Hello City yet. Using the remainder of Jerry’s money, he buys Z a plane ticket and sends him home.

In the novel’s final scene, Maxima tells Excel that she wishes to return to the Philippines to care for her sister, who has had a debilitating stroke. While Excel expresses anxiety and sadness over the prospect of losing his mother, she assures him that he has what it takes to survive on his own. Admitting that he learned his survival skills from her, Excel ponders a future without Maxima.