Silk Road Cafe owner Tom, orphaned at a young age, grew up cooking for his eleven brothers and sisters. As soon as he could, he struck out across the globe retracing the ancient Silk Road through Europe and Asia. Years later, when he settled in Toronto, he opened a restaurant whose name was inspired by his travels — The Silk Road Cafe. Here in the restaurant he met and proposed to his wife and started a beautiful family. However, as five years passed, the restaurant began to fail. The once diverse menu has given way to run of the mill Chinese food. The decor, done on a shoestring budget years ago, is falling apart. In addition, the SARS scare brought business down 50%. As a last resort, Tom has even had to cash in his children’s education funds to keep his livelihood afloat.