An abandoned infant and raised as a refugee in Japanese-occupied Malaya during World War II Sylvia Sun Minnick is united with her parents after the war; but, she is unable to understand if being the "third" daughter was the reason for her parents' mistreatment of her. Minnick is rescued and brought to San Francisco by her maternal grandmother and raised in the San Francisco Chinatown community. A survivor, Minnick met challenges with 'true grit' and resourcefulness. She is a noted public historian of Chinese Americans in California's Central Valley, a business woman, writer/lecturer, community activist and even an outspoken Stockton City Council member. This is a memoir of self-preservation, hardship, and sorrow. Yet it is a story of a person with indomitable spirit.