Two hearts beat on the pages of Han Suyin's autobiography. One is the heart of a young Eurasian girl growing up in Peking, beginning to earn her own living, setting forth to fulfill her determination to become a doctor, gradually emancipating herself from her family and struggling to overcome the special problems a Eurasian encounters in social and emotional relationships. The other is the great heart of China as it pounds through the tumultuous years from 1927-1938 - years that saw the rise of Chiang Kai-Shek, the split between Chiang's Kuomintang and Mao Tse-tung's followers, the great campaigns launched by the nationalist against Mao's forces, the Japanese invasions of first Manchuria and then China itself, launched while the West vacillated and the United States stood by condemning Japan's action but selling her the materials to fuel her war machine. In the course of her narrative Han Suyin draws penetrating sketches of such figures as Chiang Kai-shek, of Chen Ye and Mao Tse-tung, of Chou En-lai, Chu Teh and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, and of many other Westerners and Chinese with whom she came into contact.