Real Americans

It is 1999, and Lily Chen is an unpaid intern at a large media corporation. She spends her days editing images while fretting about what she will do after she graduates. Options for art history majors are limited, and she cannot see herself in any of the careers that will be available to her.

At her company Christmas party, Lily eats free food with the other interns, contemplating the cost of the party in comparison to what her salary would have been if she were a paid employee. She is one of the only Asian interns. Their boss obviously prefers bubbly blondes, and Lily often feels out of place among her coworkers. Her boss introduces her to his nephew, Matthew Maier, by saying that she is Korean, though she is actually Chinese. Matthew comments on how awkward the introduction was. He wins a large television set in the Christmas raffle and offers it to Lily. She accepts, and he helps her bring it to her apartment. She feels drawn to him and gives him her number.

Matthew calls the next morning and asks Lily to dinner at a romantic, expensive restaurant. He sends a car to pick her up, and when she arrives, he is already there. They share an elegant, multi-course meal, and sparks fly. They find that they were both born on Long Island and that they both enjoy Paris. Matthew offers to help her find a paid position at the company when she graduates, but she politely declines. On a whim, he asks her to go with him to Paris after dinner, and she accepts. They share a memorable weekend together, and Lily is smitten.

After they return from Paris, Matthew calls Lily every day, even during her holiday vacation to Tampa to visit her parents. Both of her parents are geneticists, and while Lily’s father has a life and interests outside of work, her mother does not. Matthew lives in a stylish, sparse condo in the West Village. He confesses to Lily that both his mother and his brother died by suicide, and he worries that sadness is inherited.

The two attend a Y2K New Year’s Eve party, and Lily feels out of place among Matthew’s affluent friends. As often happens, someone assumes that she is foreign born because she is Asian and talks to her about how much Shanghai has changed in recent years. After the party, Matthew flies to Berlin to see his family. When he returns, Lily cooks him dinner at her apartment. She thought that her home was cozy, but seeing it through his eyes, she finds it shabby. He admits that he didn’t tell his family about her, and she is offended. She asks to spend the night alone, and when he leaves, she notices that he didn’t take the mix CD she made him. She angrily throws it in the trash.

Lily’s parents are sitting with her in her kitchen. She has just graduated, and she knows that her lack of accolades disappoints her mother, who decided when Lily was still a child that she was gifted. Her father gives her an envelope full of money.

Lily searches for a new job. She has little luck but meets a pair of Asian women at an exercise class and befriends them. Hong is Vietnamese, and Theresa is Korean. Both grew up in traditional Asian households, whereas Lily’s parents always spoke English at home and cooked American food. She feels slightly out of place among women she perceives as “more Asian” than her. Matthew tries repeatedly to contact Lily, but she ignores him.

Lily continues her unpaid internship, hoping to be offered a paid position. She finds an odd assortment of side gigs through Craigslist and gets into the habit of purchasing a single scratch-off ticket for herself each time she receives a paycheck. At work, one of her colleagues shares that a friend, the heiress to a cosmetics fortune, has begun to date Matthew. Lily tries not to react. She is unsurprised that Matthew would seek out someone so affluent and genuinely thinks that the two will be a good pair.

Lily is at work on September 11, 2001. She and her coworkers watch footage of the planes hitting the World Trade Center towers over and over until someone suggests that they all go home. Her coworker, Luke, walks with her. Later, the two end up volunteering together to help gather and distribute supplies, and she is struck by how kind and competent he is.

Lily attends a party at Theresa’s apartment. Lily is now a paid assistant photo editor at the company where she interned, and she enjoys telling the other partygoers about her job. Later, she also attends her work’s Christmas party with Luke. She runs into Matthew, who gives her his raffle ticket, and she wins an iPod. Although she still thinks that they are objectively wrong for each other, she remains drawn to him, and they leave together.

Lily and Matthew begin dating again. She finds her job stressful even though she is now salaried, and Matthew suggests that she allow him to support her financially and that she move into his condo. Thinking of how disappointed her mother would be, she is unsure. Still, she realizes that she has fallen in love with Matthew, and when he tells her that he loves her, she does not say no to his offer of financial assistance. She reflects that, unlike her mother, she cares about other things more than her professional life.

Lily moves in with Matthew. He gives her a weekly allowance of $1,000, and the money begins to pile up in her account. It is more than she has ever made at a job. He suggests that she redecorate, and she begins buying new furniture. One morning, a friend of his, also named Lily, calls to invite her to brunch. At the restaurant, she is uncomfortable because of Lily’s obvious affluence and because she asks a series of personal questions about her relationship with Matthew. She asks if Matthew has taken her to his Miami condo, and Lily admits that he has not. Later, Lily asks Matthew about the condo, and he reluctantly agrees to take her. She finds out that his family has a private jet, but it embarrasses Matthew, and he prefers to fly commercial.

In Miami, Matthew is visibly uncomfortable showing Lily the extent of his family’s wealth. The condo is gleaming and expensive, and it contrasts markedly with the modest Tampa home where Lily grew up. The two enjoy a lavish meal and drink many glasses of wine. Matthew admits that if he were to tell his parents about Lily, they would hire a private investigator to look into her. They did this with his most recent ex also, even though she was just as wealthy as Matthew and was one of his childhood friends. Lily still enjoys herself and realizes that she has begun to grow accustomed to affluence.

Matthew would have preferred to skip his family’s annual gathering in the Hamptons, but Lily wants to meet everyone, so he reluctantly agrees to attend. Matthew is obviously ill at ease around most of his family members. Still, Lily enjoys herself. The family’s home is opulent, the drinks are always free-flowing, and each meal is a feast. Lily feels that her life has become surreal, but she is grateful for it. Matthew’s sister, Jenna, who is an art attorney, mentions that an interior decorator she knows is looking for an assistant and asks Lily if she would be interested. Lily thanks her. Matthew’s father wants him to take on an important role within the family business, a pharmaceutical company with a philanthropic foundation, but Matthew resists.

Two weeks after their trip to the Hamptons, Matthew proposes. He buys Lily a ring with the largest diamond she has ever seen, and although she has reservations, she accepts his offer. His family is thrilled, and Jenna in particular is happy for them. Lily has begun working for Jenna’s decorator friend, Roland, and she’s enjoying the job. Her mother, who was chagrined to hear that her daughter had become a “decorator’s assistant,” is displeased about the engagement. Lily questions her about her lukewarm response to the news, and her mother’s only comment is that Lily is young and that the engagement was a surprise.

Matthew’s friend volunteers to help with the wedding planning. It is a grand and expensive affair, and Lily is surprised by the enormity of the gathering. The night before the wedding, her parents are late to the rehearsal dinner, and it is obvious that her mother is unhappy. Although Lily’s father has Parkinson’s disease and has been struggling lately, he claims that Lily’s mother is not feeling well, and they leave the dinner early.

At the wedding, Lily feels alternately happy, uncomfortable, and hyperaware of the cost of everything. She wonders if Hong and Theresa are silently comparing her wedding to theirs. After the wedding, she and Matthew return home to the condo. They are happy to be married and anxious for normal life to resume.

Lily and Matthew decide to have a baby. Lily cannot admit it to her mother, but she hopes that a child will give her the sense of direction and purpose she never found in her professional life. After a series of miscarriages, they discover that Lily has a genetic disorder affecting her fertility. She successfully becomes pregnant via IVF.

At 32 weeks pregnant, Lily accompanies Matthew on a work trip to China. He has accepted a job working for his family’s foundation and travels frequently now. Lily enjoys traveling with him, and she jumped at the opportunity to visit China. Her mother never wanted to return, but Lily is curious about her parents’ place of birth. In Beijing, she feels too American. Although she looks Chinese, she cannot speak the language, and people judge her.

She heads to Peking University, where her parents worked in the 1960s before they emigrated, and she happens upon one of their former colleagues, Ping. He tells her that she looks exactly like her mother, May. He invites her to his office and asks her about May. The two once studied lotus plants together, and he is surprised to hear that she and her husband now work with genetically modified crops. He tells Lily that during China’s Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards destroyed much of what had been housed in the nation’s museums. Lily’s mother stole an ancient lotus seed that was purported to have magical powers. He writes a short note for Lily’s mother, and though Lily is curious about its contents, she cannot read Chinese.

While in China, she goes into labor several weeks early. When the baby is born, she is sure that the hospital switched her infant with someone else’s, although everyone assures her that the child is hers. Lily, Matthew, and newborn Nico return to New York. Jenny, the Chinese housekeeper, translates the note for her. In it, Ping tells her mother that although she did not ask for it, he forgives her. He wonders what she is doing and if she has hurt anyone else in recent years.

Lily’s mother arrives to meet her grandchild. She comments that he looks like Matthew. She and the housekeeper fuss over Lily and Nico, speaking Chinese and preparing various Chinese foods and medicines. Lily is stunned to see her mother speaking Chinese and cooking Chinese food for the first time.

Matthew’s parents also arrive, and they notice how exhausted Lily is. They suggest that a night nurse be hired, but Lily’s mother disagrees. Lily overhears the argument, and she cannot help but think that Matthew’s father, Otto, and her mother sound like they have known each other for years. Because they all lived on Long Island at the same time and Otto’s company funds genetic research, she thinks that might be possible. A hazy memory comes back to her, and she thinks she recalls being in an office with both Otto and her mother. She remembers having been afraid of her mother and wonders now at her mother’s reaction when she revealed the news about her genetic disorder. She also wonders about the baby since Nico looks nothing like her.