This book is an introduction to contemporary Vietnamese painting. Many of the featured artists in the book started their careers during the mid-1980s, and may thus be labeled the doi moi generation, after the Vietnamese term for "renovation" and the process of opening Vietnam to the outside world. Although there had been many talented artists of the older generation, the artists of the doi moi generation were the first to break free from more conventional painting styles.

In the first part, art historian and independent curator Shireen Naziree covers the background of contemporary Vietnamese painting and places it in the context of Southeast Asia. There is a section on how lacquer paintings are made, followed by profiles of fifteen prominent artists written by the Vietnamese art historian and critic Phan Cam Thuong. Lacquer paintings have been given special attention in the book, as many Vietnamese artists have successfully synthesized tradition lacquer techniques with the practice of modern painting.