Summary

The broker explains to Hyeonseo that her family was stopped at a checkpoint in Laos and he did not have enough money from her to pay for their release. He suspects they are imprisoned in a town called Luang Namtha. Hyeonseo decides to travel there. In line at immigration she spots several Western tourists and "one white man no one could miss" (251). He is a lone traveller in his early fifties with sandy-colored hair. When Hyeonseo gets off the bus in Luang Namtha the sandy-haired man gets off as well. Hyeonseo searches for her family at the immigration office and the prison and finally learns there are two North Koreans in custody.

Hyeonseo spends a week establishing relationships with the officials, flattering them, and bribing them to speed up the process of seeing her family. Finally, the immigration office chief agrees...