Twenty two year-old Yin Yin has paid her own way to the United States under the impression that she will be trained for a computer job. After a harrowing journey on a crowded and disease infested cargo ship she arrives to the Shanghai Hotel, a run down brothel in New York City. There Yin Yin is threaten and forced to slave labor and sexual exploitation. Hope is nearly obliterated from her life, until one day she gets a chance to peek out a window. Outside Carlos, a handsome young law student and bike messenger, brings food to the homeless on her street. Yin Yin and Carlos connect, and together they maneuver their way out of this ruthless underworld.