At birth, Peter had been given the Chinese name Juan Chaun, 'Powerful King'. The exalted only son in the middle of three daughters, Peter was the one who would finally embody his immigrant father's ideal of power and masculinity. But Peter has different dreams: he is certain he's a girl. Peter Huang and his sisters elegant Adele, shrewd Helen, and Bonnie the bon vivant grow up in a house of many secrets, then escape the confines of small-town Ontario and spread from Montreal to California to Berlin. Peter's own journey is obstructed by playground bullies, masochistic lovers, Christian ex-gays, and the ever-present shadow of his Chinese father.