Mrs. Pan is like a fish out of water in New York. Everything about the place is so strange to her, so alien. For one thing, the water tastes like metal, not like the earthy water back home in her remote Chinese village. Then there's the little matter of her not being able to speak a word of English.

Staying with her son's family doesn't make the old lady feel any more at home in the big city. There's a huge cultural gulf between Mrs. Pan and her grandchildren that can never be closed. Mrs. Pan makes the effort to teach a few words of Chinese to her grandchildren and to tell them stories of the old country, but it is all to no avail. They'd much rather sit and watch TV all day.

Strange as it may seem, but Mrs. Pan is actually afraid of the children. She hates the way they mangle the Chinese language. Worse still, they are so incredibly disobedient. They seem to have no respect for their elders and betters. Things would be so much different back home.

All in all, Mrs. Pan doesn't like being in New York. She feels lonely and isolated in her new surroundings. More than that, though, she feels utterly useless, as if there's no point in her being there. So she sits alone all day. Not by the window, though, because the sight of all those people and machines outside frightens her.