The novel's main character is a young ethnic-Chinese Indonesian who grew up when Suharto was president and anti-Chinese sentiments ran strong. In Indonesia he was considered alien for his Chinese looks, but after he came to Taiwan as a student he found he was considered Indonesian due to his lack of fluency in Chinese. Thus he continued to experience the clash of different ethnic groups, cultures and religions.
故事主角是一位印尼華裔青年，在蘇哈托總統時代的激烈排華背景中成長，因為膚色、長相不同而被歸為異族；以學生簽證來台灣後，又因不諳中文，被視為印尼人，持續經驗不同族群、文化、宗教間的衝撞。