When June's mother dies, she is invited to join a long-standing club of Chinese women who urge her not only to take her mother's place at the mah-jongg table, but also to carry the news of her mother's death to her step-sisters in China. Through the stories of the women and their daughters, the values of different generations are articulated. June's anxiety about her responsibility to the past is contrasted with the older women's concerns that their values and culture are being lost by their Americanized daughters.