Chua traces her ascent from Harvard University Law School to Wall Street. Though she is successful in her profession, she does not enjoy working in the corporate world. Her husband, Jed, thrives in the US Attorney’s office, and after his article about privacy laws is well received, he is invited to teach at Yale University Law School. As Chua shifts careers, she starts writing about law and ethnicity in the developing world. Her work brings her to the attention of the Yale Law School faculty, but when she is invited for an interview, she becomes flustered and the interview goes poorly. Eventually, she receives an invitation to teach at Duke University’s Law School and decides to move with the girls to North Carolina. Jed commutes from New Haven to North Carolina to visit them every weekend.

The distance puts a strain on the family, and Chua decides to leave Duke for a position at New York University (NYU) since it is closer to Yale. Chua tries to get Lulu into an exclusive preschool in New York, but to show her disapproval, Lulu deliberately misbehaves during the interview. Despite this, Lulu goes on to love her school while Sophia struggles to socialize in her new environment.