Lady’s maid by day and witty advice columnist by night, 17-year-old Jo Kuan is the protagonist of the novel. Straight-backed and pretty, Jo is the novel’s only point-of-view character and its first-person narrator. Jo is intelligent, street-smart, and loves words; she is skilled at both hat-making and horse-riding.

Brought up by her grandfather Old Gin, Jo lives secretly in a basement as Chinese people are not allowed to own or rent property. Her chief source of entertainment and succor has been overhearing the conversations of the kind Bell family, who live above the basement. At the start of the novel, the Bells are unaware of Jo and Old Gin’s presence in the cellar. Though Jo has wise, informed opinions and a quick wit, she often has to stifle her voice because she is Chinese, and thus, not recognized as a citizen.

Furthermore, the strict society she inhabits frowns upon opinionated young women, especially when they are poor and non-white. It is only when Jo begins writing the anonymous advice column “Miss Sweetie” for the newspaper owned by the Bells that her journey toward being seen and heard begins.