Sabrina, a precocious and headstrong child born to a New York socialite and her alcoholic husband in the 1950s, struggles within the confines of her wealthy but dysfunctional family. Her only confidants are her stuffed animals and pets, until Didi, her aristocratic British stepfather arrives.
A year with Didi in Burma amounts to an awakening for Sabrina, where she is introduced to Buddhism and blossoms in the rich spiritual culture of Rangoon, the opposite of her life of banality and neglect in America.
The idyll ends all too soon. Later, Sabrina returns briefly to another part of Asia as a young mother, with tragic and bitter results. But, remaining true to a clairvoyant prediction during her first sojourn in Burma, her determination to remember and support the Burmese people and by extension her childhood friend, now the embattled leader of Burma's democratic movement, remains unflagging.
A fascinating juxtaposition of Eastern and Western culture, written with the authenticity of someone who has seen the best and worst of both.