Ning is a retired boxer, but to the customers who visit her nailsalon, she is just another worker named Susan. On this summer's day, much like any other, the Susans buff and clip and polish and tweeze. They listen and smile and nod. But beneath this superficial veneer, Ning is a woman of rigorous intellect and profound complexity. Awoman enthralled by the intricacy and rhythms of her work, but alsohaunted by memories of paths not taken and opportunities lost. A woman navigating the complex power dynamics among her fellow Susans, whose greatest fears and desires lie just behind the gossip they exchange. As the day's work grinds on, the friction between Ning's two identities--as anonymous manicurist and brilliant observer of her owncircumstances--will gather electric and crackling force, and at last demand a reckoning with the way the world of privilege looks at a woman like Ning.