The Garden of Evening Mists is set in three inter-linked time frames. Past and present struggle to reconcile Yun Ling's memories of wartime suffering and loss. But Yun Ling is faced by a cruel dilemma. Soon she will no longer have a future. Her brilliant, sensitive mind is slowly deteriorating from an incurable neurological disease. Oblivion will settle Yun Ling's efforts to find inner peace if she does not achieve it first.