"Polly Bemis came to this country from China as a slave, speaking no English, and not only survived but triumphed, " says Ruthanne Lum McCunn whose biography of Polly Bemis entitled 1,000 Pieces of Gold was adapted to feature film.

"The first time I came to this country from Hong Kong, I lasted only two weeks," McCunn recalls with amazement. "The culture shock was just too great - and I spoke English and had American relatives to take care of me. When I ran across Polly's story while researching another book, I had to record it in book form. It's not only a story of a woman's spirit and determination to beat the odds, but covers an important part of American history, and the Chinese role in it, which has been largely ignored."

The movie takes place in the late 19th century during the Gold Rush in America when thousands of Chinese immigrants were imported from China to the Pacific Northwest as cheap labor to help build the railroads and work the mines.

"Polly's experience was quite common. Thousands of Chinese women were sold by their families for 1,000 pieces of gold and ended up enslaved or in brothels. Most died from their ordeal. Polly lived into her eighties and became a legend." - Nancy Kelly, director.

American Playhouse presented the program on PBS with funding made possible from the nation's public television viewers, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and by an underwriting grant from the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.