The Swirling Tides

When Ai-ling joins thousands of the brightest university graduates to emigrate to the U.S., Taiwan is still ruled by martial law and the White Terror. At a graduate school in the Midwest, she meets Winston, a Vietnam War veteran. After they marry and start a family, her way of raising children in the tiger mother fashion is rooted in Taiwan's culture.

Ai-ling retires from a Fortune 20 company in 2008 when financial crisis begins to rock the U.S. She has finally fulfilled her American dream: a marriage of more than 30 years, two accomplished children, a beautiful home, and a satisfying run in the corporate world. In her blissful state, she looks forward to enjoying her golden years.

But her happiness comes crashing down at a shipboard wedding when she unexpectedly witnesses Winston dancing with his sister-in-law, who left Winston to marry his older brother years ago when Winston was fighting the war in Vietnam. Unexplainable anger and grief consumes Ai-ling for the next few months. The emotional turmoil quickly tears apart her marriage and her relationship with her grown children.

As Winston gets drawn deeper into his brother and sister-in-law's complicated world, an urgent matter calls Ai-ling to travel alone to Taiwan. She has no idea a chain of events will soon develop to exacerbate her situation even further. In her most distressed moment, Lady White Snake, the most beloved folktale in all of Taiwan and China, becomes the story of her own self-discovery and redemption. Will a journey into the swirling tides reconnect Ai-ling with her loved ones?