The Buddha in Our Bellies spans continents and centuries in sharing two lifelong quests for liberation and connection. Yoshiko's memoirs of struggle, hope, and self-reliance intertwine with Keith's stories of compromised immunity, Buddhist tales, and poetry.

A mysterious ailment rips through young Keith's guts, and his conflicted family is disintegrating. His sense of himself deteriorates to feeling invisible, lost, and unreal. His only hope for healing lies in the least expected, most vulnerable place. Yoshiko grows up determined to work for peace beyond her remote mountainside village and move past her family's trauma of Stalin's forced labour camps and post-war starvation.