The author's tribute to her father, the political journalist Z. A. Suleri - known as Pip, for his "patriotic and preposterous" disposition. The story follows Suleri Goodyear's upbringing in Pakistan and her life in the United States.

In this rich portrait, Pip emerges as a prodigious figure. To the author, though, he was a man who imposed outrageously on his children. As Goodyear chronicles, Pip demanded their loyalty yet banished them easily from his favour; contrary and absurdly unfair, he read their diaries, interfered in their relationships, and believed in a father's inalienable right to oppress his children.