Khai Diep has no feelings. Oh, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but he doesn't experience big, important emotions like love and grief. Rather than believing he is autistic, he concludes that he's defective and decides to avoid romantic relationships. His mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect mail-order bride. As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. She leaps at the chance to marry an American, but seducing Khai doesn't go as planned. Soon Esme is hopelessly smitten with a man who believes he can never return her affection. Can she convince Khai that there is more than one way to love? -- adapted from back cover