This is a story of a typical family living in a small village in Laos. The children in the family, especially two sisters age ten and eleven, are the primary subjects. There are survival adventures with canoes on the Mekong River. There are learning experiences when the children construct a sand stupa and win the contest, then go to a large city to accept their rewards.
Work is a major activity of many Lao children and this family is no different. The children plant rice. They make pottery which is taken to the market to sell. They fish on the Mekong.
Two Americans visit the village where the children live and observe a small girl with a double cleft lip. They successfully contact a service agency and set the wheels in motion to have surgery for the girl. Subsequently, they assist the village in other ways.
The text includes approximately 30 commonly used words that are always displayed in the Lao language.