In One Tribe, the death of Isabel Manalo's unborn child stirs wide
spread speculation in her small Midwestern suburb. Fed up with the noise
of local tsismosas (gossips), she moves to Virginia Beach to teach myth
and history to Filipino American youth. Isa Manalo walks into the chaos
of drive by shootings, beauty pageants, and community politicking. At
every turn she runs up against youth gangs who distrust her, community
elders who disapprove of her loose outsider ways, and a Filipino
boyfriend who accuses her of acting too white. Eventually Isa fights
back. As Hurricane Emilia brews at the edge of the east coast, Isa opens
her house to a local girl gang and nourishes their troubled spirits,
instigating change sudden as the shift of tropical winds.