“Finding Katherine” is a rich travelogue of and pilgrimage to modern-day Vietnam. The author journeys to Vietnam to adopt a one-year-old girl from an orphanage in Lang Son province near the Chinese border. Planning on touring southeast Asia for six weeks while she awaits the official adoption ceremony, she is stunned when a child different from the one in the picture that she had received is placed in her arms. The orphanage director then tells her that she may take this new little girl with her on her travels.
So starts the family of mother and daughter for Ellen and Katherine Huong. Together they explore their new relationship with each other and the rich culture of Vietnam.