Ten-year-old Knox says that he is known for just blurting things out at times. Knox’s father, Andrew, tells him and his siblings, Bowen and Lea, that they must go to the United States. A new virus, called “the coronavirus,” has been found in Hong Kong and could end up like the SARS pandemic that they already experienced. While Knox’s father must stay in Hong Kong to work, his mother, Julie, plans to take them to the US where she will continue her work as a banker remotely. Julie is careful about preserving their face masks, which are now quite valuable.

Lai sees, or red packets, are not being passed out on the street for Chinese New Year like normal. People around Hong Kong cover their faces, and Knox and Bowen use paper towels and rubber bands as makeshift masks, and they use toothpicks to press the elevator buttons of their apartment building. Strangers speak Cantonese to Bowen more than they do to Knox, because Bowen looks like he is of Chinese descent, and Knox looks more like their father.