1998: Minh, Hương, and Ann, three generations of the Tran family, go to the beach near their home in Florida. A red tide in the ocean makes everything smell awful, and they cannot go into the water, though none of them can swim anyway. Hương feels frustrated because she wants to have a perfect day at the beach with her seven-year-old daughter, Ann, but when she looks at the ocean, Hương thinks of Ann’s father, Vinh. She feels alienated from Ann, who is closer to her grandmother, Minh (Hương’s mother). Hương naps on the beach, and when she wakes, she cannot find Ann and is seized with panic that her daughter has drowned. When Hương and Minh eventually find Ann hiding, Hương is angry with her. Minh comforts Ann, and Hương feels the separation between herself and her daughter deepen.

Present day: Ann, an illustrator, attends a party for her boyfriend Noah’s parents’ 30th wedding anniversary. Noah, a classics professor, hosts the party—an extravagant affair in a ballroom, but he worries that his parents will find fault with it. Noah’s parents are wealthy, and he has lived a very different life from that of Ann.