Moon Shadow often sits with them in the afternoon and exchanges stories of China for their stories of American life. Also Windrider begins to experiment with models of airplanes so that he can master the basics of flight. When the 1906 earthquake hits, the family's world is shattered. Their home is destroyed and they must move to Golden Gate Park and camp out there until they can build a place to live. They reunite with the men from the laundry and together they all rebuild their business, but when the construction is finished Moon Shadow and Windrider move across the Bay to Oakland so that Windrider can concentrate fully on building his airplane.
Times are very hard for the father and son when they are working on the plane.
They have little money for food and have to stretch to pay the rent each month. Finally the aircraft is finished and they are ready to fly it, but they have run out of money and have no way to get the plane to the top of the hills to launch it. Uncle and the men from the laundry come over though and they all help to haul the plane up the hill. In an exciting climax Windrider launches the plane and manages to fly for twenty minutes before a bolt on the propeller comes loose and the plane crashes. This was one of the most interestingand engaging books I've ever encountered.