 At school Will hides the fact that he is much poorer than his classmates and must work at a restaurant in order to supplement his income and help to send money back home.Will has a crush on Phoebe and the two gradually grow close, with Phoebe eventually confiding in him about her mother's death and Will admitting his relative poverty and difficult home life.At the same time Phoebe has attracted the attention of the mysterious John Leal, a half-Korean man who knows her father and who is an activist who spent time in a North Korean gulag.