This memoir vividly describes the struggle of one Vietnamese family and their seven day ordeal to escape persecution from Communist Vietnam. One of more than 840,000 "boat people" to have fled the war ravaged country, the author describes his family's epic journey and the historical, cultural, social, economic, and political problems that led to his father's decision to take his family away from their homeland. Drawing on his Catholic faith, Nguyen attests to the hardship and dangers that confronted the family in their journey and that did not end after his father died and the five children were forced to continue alone.