Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break out of poverty in Chinatown. She gains admission to a prestigious finishing school through cunning and bribery and soon discovers that getting in was easy: carving a niche among the spoiled heiresses proves more difficult. When the earthquake strikes, Mercy and her classmates are forced to a survivor encampment where her quick-witted leadership rallies them to help in the tragedy's aftermath.