As he approaches his fortieth birthday, the introverted monk Seido Oda is ordered by his superior to leave behind his peaceful, quiet refuge in the remote mountains of Japan and set up a temple in Brooklyn's Little Calabria. There Oda is confronted with an uphill struggle to get to understand the ways of his new host country, and finds his patience and beliefs tested by a motley crew of misguided American Buddhists — a shock which will enable him to come to terms with painful memories of his past and finally experience that sense of belonging he has always sought.