In 1961, Jim Wolter leaves medical school in Chicago for Malaya thinking he could change the world by teaching biology and avoid his mother's dream of his marrying Lolly. He's excited about his new job as a biology teacher at a secondary school in Malaya. But that excitement is short-lived. After he arrives, his bosses pull a bait-and-switch and put him in teaching jobs he isn't qualified for and create other challenges to fit their own motives. Disappointed and feeling helpless, he decides to return to Chicago and do what is expected of him. That is, until a friend drags Jim to a work picnic on an island in the South China Sea and he sees the most beautiful girl in the world. Now, Jim wants to stay in Malaya to be near Miss Fong Moke Chee.

Finding Miss Fong is the journey of a naïve twenty-two year old from the northwest side of Chicago trying to find his way in an unfamiliar world back in the early 1960s. As a biologist from a working-class background thrust into post-Colonial Malaya, he finds himself caught up in unexpected adventures while struggling with disillusionment in work and juggling entanglements in love.