Vanessa Yao

A quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice…all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.

Detective Mike Sweeney has just moved with his wife and daughters from Toronto to his hometown of Durham County after the death of his partner. Hoping to escape the violent world of big city police work, Mike falls into a suburban world besieged by crime, abuse and murder.

Attractive, intelligent and gifted and one of China's most famous female painters and poets, Lianxia "Ziyi" Zhou, and her talented husband, Wanping Xu, took Shanghai by storm in the 1930's as a part of an iconic circle of famous artists and writers that included the world-famous Chang Dai-chien, Xu Beihong, Xu Zhimo, Jiang Biwei, Lu Xiaoman, Wu Hufan, Bertrand Russell and Pearl Buck. They redefied the conventions of the time and shaped the cultural path China has followed to this day. But, when the world around them erupted into war, a cruel twist of fate tears Ziyi and Wanping apart and plunges her and their five children into dire straits that left them struggling to survive. Walking in beauty, with a heart inspired by art and the love for her country and her missing husband to sustain her, Ziyi kept her family and her dreams alive in a nation ravaged by war and political strife. Until a miracle happened.