Early in the twentieth century teak, tin and rubber production in Siam and Malaya are magnets for European businesses; many European men are drawn to these exotic countries. Their need for female company enables my grandmother, Chalerm, a shy innocent beauty of fifteen, to escape her poor background in Bangkok.

For the next ten years a fairy-tale life as a concubine with a westerner helps Chalerm provide for her family. However, survival in the early 1900s for women like her provides hard lessons - Asian women may have Eurasian children but are dispensible if a European fiance appears. Heartbroken Chalerm must abandon her charmed life, bravely deciding to move to Malaya to create a new life. Living on her wits and relying on her beauty she creates a contented, new life with another European, my grandfather.

Ten years later a second fiance emerges, making Chalerm leave, bitter and disillusioned. The advent of WWII and Japanese occupation forces Chalerm to protect her family, but at a high price. Post-war she and her daughters live a vivid multicultural life combining their love of western music, film and dance with their Buddhist beliefs and Siamese culture. As part of a mixed-race family in a British colony Chalerm evolves from an innocent beauty to a resourceful but flawed matriarch of three Eurasian families who enjoy both good times and bad. Thankfully, in her later life, Chalerm achieves peace of mind.