Christmas At The Golden Dragon

With the town’s landmark Chinese restaurant closing, two siblings find themselves reevaluating their lives alongside the restaurant’s loyal patrons.

It is the busiest season for the Golden Dragon, a Chinese restaurant long owned and operated by first-generation immigrants Jim and Sue Chen in Wichita, Kansas. It is one of the few restaurants open on Christmas Day, when “Christmas misfits” frequent the establishment. It’s the first Christmas for Jane since her husband’s unexpected passing from a heart attack. While Jane is having a hard time moving on without him, she laments that her daughter Veronica, a high-powered CFO at a tech company, seems to have easily put him in her past, fixated on remembering that he was “never” there for the family in favor of his high-profile career. Veronica also needs to move on from her latest-of-many unsuccessful IVF treatment. The restaurant being open on Christmas also means a working day for Jim and Sue’s staff, including their two young-adult offspring Romy and Rick, who have never had what most would consider a traditional Christmas. Rick, who generally waits tables, has failed out of college, and he hasn’t told his parents that he has found his passion: to be a chef; Jim and Sue don’t really want that for either of their children, as they only opened the restaurant so they could support their family. Rick also faces the return home of his Jewish “friend” Sadie from Los Angeles who has always had feelings for him but has never really forgiven him for standing her up at her high-school prom because of his feelings of lack of self-worth. Jim and Sue have given Romy, an account executive at a New York furnishing company, permission to forgo working at the restaurant this Christmas season so she can spend the holidays with her boyfriend Blake and his family in Vermont, having a traditional winter Christmas as idealized in all her favorite Christmas movies. Jim and Sue have given her that permission in light of their announcement that they have sold the restaurant property and will be closing the Golden Dragon for good. Their last day will be Christmas Eve, allowing their staff to be able to enjoy Christmas for the first time. This announcement, which also funnels its way to Romy in Vermont, has profound effect on the family, the staff, and the Christmas regulars because of their current issues.