Meet the notorious Ativan Gang, a group of scammers in Manila who befriends solo tourists, then drugs and robs them. Twenty-five-year-old Carmen Maranan is their newest member, a college dropout desperate to see her mother, Nicole, now living with her new family in Vietnam's old capital, Hue City. When Carmen flees Manila for Hue, she meets Hai, a receptionist, tout, and part-time pimp. Ambitious and driven, Hai's goal is to be rich and run his own hotel, a dream that feels closer when he crosses paths with Marina, a wealthy Singaporean yearning for a new life-and love.

Told from the points of view of Carmen, Hai and Marina, Hue City brings you deep into the soul of Southeast Asia-from the faded, enigmatic streets of Vietnam's former capital, to the fraught, gritty drags of Manila and the gleaming, cosmopolitan environs of Singapore-as it tells their intertwined journey towards the treacherous and sometimes heart-breaking path of starting over.