When she's not helping her father feed the white and Chinese workers at a California logging camp, thirteen-year-old Mei spends time with her best friend, Bee, and tells tall tales about Auntie Po, a Paul Bunyan-inspired figure who, with her blue buffalo Pei Pei, protects the logging crew from dangerous creatures and situations. But it's 1885, and anti-Chinese sentiments are running high. When the government enacts the Chinese Exclusion Act, and Chinese workers are fired from their jobs, Auntie Po comes to life for Mei to help her cope with life and her feelings for Bee.