Alisa Mizelle's story is one that evokes deep and lasting feelings of sympathy, anger and hope in the face of dysfunction, neglect and betrayal. Life began for Alisa in the Soviet Union in 1965 during the Cold War. Her mother was distant and neglectful and Alisa turned to her grandmother for the little maternal love she was able to give. Sex became a part of her life at an early age and she quickly realized that this was a medium she could use to make some kind of human attachment and in the process maybe find love-an emotion which seemed to elude her at every turn. Alisa's life takes place on two continents and plays like an action movie involving men, sex, kidnapping and even rape. Through it all she is motivated by the need to make a connection with another human being that will help to make her whole. It is this need that drives her into most or all of the situations she finds herself in and the decisions she makes. She makes the ultimate connection with an American Doctor who marries her and brings her back to the States with him.The hope is that life will finally fall into place for her. But too much damage has been done and instead of being the glue that keeps her family together, she becomes the thing that rips it apart. She finally realizes when it is almost too late that sex does not equate love, and that love and respect must be earned and not demanded.