Gist is, she lived through Khmer Rouge genocide and Vietnamese communist revolutions thanks to luck and work skills she acquired during her youth that she started in relatively comfortable situation gradually getting worse due to destruction of her country (and Vietnam as well) and (not strictly related) deaths of women who supported her as a child (mostly mother, other maternal figure and older sister). She managed also to partner up with a decent man during the ordeal who's still her husband, but he's mentioned just in passing.

Now she's back in her still devastated home country, created an organisation helping women acquire skills they could use to earn money in a country that's about two tech-levels behind advanced countries of this world.

Most enthralling parts of the piece are memories of her luxurious childhood, which most modern kids in western countries would already abhor as abject poverty.