Q. It sounds like the classic American immigrant story.

"It's a great immigrant story of someone, against all odds, achieving his ambitions."

Making things still more interesting, at least one of the characters seems familiar with the feel-good immigrant story to which he is expected to pay homage.

Being the Queens poet laureate, she said, will let her focus on capturing their immigrant stories in words.

Their immigrant story, however, is less about realized dreams than about missed opportunities and squandered hopes.

While language is their most obvious difference, the Korean and English ministries also illustrate the two halves of a familiar immigrant story.

"Samba's is a deli, but it's also an immigrant story," she said.

It is, in a heartbreaking way, a variant on the classic immigrant story.

Mexico's remaining Cornish community represents a largely forgotten immigrant story.

She tells a familiar immigrant story, with Korean details but universal resonance.