Tang Yitian has lived in America for almost a decade, when he receives news that his father has disappeared from the family's rural village in China. When Yitian returns to the village, he struggles to navigate the country's impenetrable bureaucracy as an outsider, and his mother's evasiveness only deepens the mystery. So he seeks out a childhood friend who may be in a position to help: Tian Hanwen, the only other person who shared Yitian's desire to pursue a life of knowledge. Reuniting for the first time as adults, Yitian and Hanwen embark on the search for Yitian's father, all the while reckoning with the past and what might have been. A Map for the Missing is an epic, deeply felt examination of family and forgiveness, the cost of pursuing one's dreams, and the meaning of home.