Prelude : winter in Beijing, 2009 -- Kenya : where it all began -- My parents : a failed elopement -- Dissolution : Johnnie Walker Black Label -- Cleansing -- My brother David : a tragedy -- Sex, beaches, and mixed-race families -- Of grandmothers, music, and wandering Jews -- Saints and sinners -- Being brown at Brown and other university stories -- Sibling atonement -- Harvard of the west -- Youthful indiscretions : the second time I realized I was ugly -- Culture shocks and untimely nuns -- Digital revolutions, sowing the seeds of rebellion -- A war begins : I look to the east -- The middle kingdom : China -- The orphans and a cup of water -- On love and dreams -- New directions and a special gift -- The new America has arrived -- White House family reunion -- Coda : Kenyan spring.

The younger half-brother of the forty-fourth president provides a story of life and identity, recounting his relationship with the commander-in-chief, his family's struggle with domestic violence, and his multi-cultural background.