An-mei and Ying-ying both suffer traumatic experiences that destroy their innocence. An-mei recovers from her grief, taking with her important knowledge about trust and faith, but Ying-ying has only begun to recover from her painful first marriage. She is roused to confront her past because Lena’s marriage is in trouble—Ying-ying’s story demonstrates, like the parable that precedes it, that the older generation can and does learn from the younger one.