From the acclaimed author of Number One Chinese Restaurant comes a wryly humorous depiction of a competitive group of friends trying to make their way in the world without losing themselves, or one another.

Diana, Justin, Errol and Vivian were always told that success is guaranteed by following a simple checklist. They worked hard, got A grades and attended a good university – only to graduate into the Great Recession of 2008. Now, despite their newly minted degrees, they're unemployed and stuck again under their parents' roofs in a hyper-competitive Chinese American community. So when Grace – once the neighbourhood golden child, now a Harvard Law School dropout – asks to make a documentary about the crew, they agree. It's not like her little movie will ever see the light of day.

But then the video, Bad Asians, goes viral on an up-and-coming media platform (YouTube, anyone?). Suddenly, millions of people know them as cruel caricatures, each full of pent-up frustrations with the others. And after a desperate attempt at spin control further derails their plans for the lives they'd always imagined, the friends must face harsh truths about themselves and about coming of age in the new millennium.