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Bill Chan doesn't know where or when he was born. But he survived war, orphanage, unhappy adoption and prejudice to build a family of his own.

This is the story of a man who has no idea where or when he was born, who his family were, or in fact, who he really is. His first memories, are not of his mother or father, but of airplanes overhead and bombs exploding all around him during the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. Somehow, he survived and was taken to an orphanage in Hong Kong where they gave him shelter and a name, Jung Gum Loy Soo, meaning 'gold will come'.

When he was about ten years old, he was adopted by the Chan family and brought to Sydney. Jung Soo became Bill Chan and little did he realise that his battles had just begun. His adoptive mother despised him, his schooling was appalling and he fought all manner of bigotry and prejudice.

This is the story of Bill Chan who somehow, remarkably, not only survived, but prospered and with his wife raised a family of four brilliant daughters in a one room house. From his flirtation with Mao and left-wing politics through to his moving conversion to Christianity, Bill was guided by priceless old quotations scribbled on paper and passed to him by people along the way.