The story of one woman’s life that will touch the heart of the reader. Born to alcoholic parents, her first years are filled with fighting and discord, and even a bit of incest, until she is nine and her parents divorce. In the following year, life disintegrates through several moves across the country, an alcoholic stepfather, and separation from her older sister, her only security. In that year, she attends five schools, and will attend fourteen before her school days are done. At ten, she and her sister are taken away from their mother, and Ruth moves through six foster homes, the last one quite oppressive. She then faces pregnancy and is forced to relinquish her baby. Upon marriage, life seems wonderful until an accident almost kills her husband. Her second daughter brings true meaning to her life, but due to her own divorce, she must raise her daughter alone. She goes on to begin to grow, searches and finds her first daughter and begins to face the demons of her childhood, finally achieving self worth and confidence, until one day her life is once again shattered.

Ruth Colaw, a child of the 40s, was born to creative and intelligent parents who also were alcoholics. Upon their divorce when Ruth was nine, she left a less than innocent childhood only to enter a world not innocent at all. Taken from her mother at age ten, she moved through six foster homes in many different towns and would attend a total of fourteen schools before her school days were done, remarkably graduating with honors. At nineteen, she was faced with pregnancy out of wedlock and would be forced to relinquish her baby, only adding fuel to her beaten down sense of self-worth. She married at twenty-one, but her husband went overseas for a year, then was almost killed in a car crash after his return. The birth of her second daughter brought immense joy, but Ruth was then faced with raising her alone after her own divorce. This is the point at which the long road to recovery was begun, her daughter pulling her along at times. They grew up together, at the same time, often switching roles, and it is to her daughter that Ruth has dedicated this story.

Mary Lee came home from school that day, and behind our closed bedroom door, she told me. I could not believe that we were actually going to get another chance. She warned that we could not let Mama and Ned know what was about to happen, to act normally, to pack just one box of our things to take along. We acted normally through the dinner of beans and went back to our room where anxiety filled the air, and I clung to her. She told me we had to be brave, they couldn't hurt us anymore.

Our mother and Ned were in the middle of a drunken argument when the knock came. What we heard was, "NO, you can't take my babies!", and "NO, I'm not an unfit mother!", and, "NO!", and, "Oh, God." When she opened our door, she began to say, "My kids are not neglec...". Then she saw the packed box and us clinging to each other and knew she was defeated. The man and lady from the County assured her we would be well taken care of and escorted us out, past the tree decorated with angel hair. Mama grabbed me. Ned said, "Let them go. They're just a couple of brats anyway." She swung to hit him and let go of me, leaving us free to walk on out, crying. As we drove away in the back seat of the big black car, we saw our mother crying, reaching out, and Ned pulling her back in the door.