Having met thirty years ago at church, Suyuan, Lindo, Ying-Ying and An-Mei, all Chinese immigrants who settled in San Francisco, have been best friends since, their offspring who euphemistically refer to those women not their mother as auntie. They have led somewhat parallel lives in each having a US-born, now young adult daughter, each around the same age: June, Waverly, Lena and Rose, respectively. Upon Suyuan's recent passing, June has been expected to take her seat at the mah jong table with the three other women, the latest game taking place at a party with all the families in attendance on the eve of June traveling to China to deal with some family business specifically related to her mother. It is during the party that the stories of the four mothers and their respective daughters are told in flashback. The similarities between the four families are the Chinese traditions and culture that each of the mothers had to deal with in China where everything was done in service to the males, how the mothers brought their experiences into their relationships with their daughters, and how the daughters in turn have been able to cope with their own lives as a result as being ethnic Chinese within American society.