 For 17 years, from the age of about six or seven, Kathy Chu keeps a diary. It s a complete fiction, denying disappointments (when her older sister doesn t want to spend time with her, Kathy invents and records a happy encounter) and rejections (she s teased for being Asian, but she writes about what fun she had with friends). Her hopes to be a writer compound the irony of her journal s disconnection. In college and after graduation, one of her closest friends is Kirby, who is also Asian. She denies any romantic attraction, and when they do become lovers, it s her diary that brings a crisis to their relationship and to her identify. Kathy falls back to earth.