Haven't we all had the experience of seeing a person living on the streets and having a sudden revelation that that could be you if your luck had gone differently? And then aren't we curious as to what did happen, what choices did that person make to have this end, and is it even her fault or are other people or circumstances to blame? Ann Morgan seems to have been given all she needs to succeed. She's smart, pretty and well-liked. But she isn't as steady as she appears to be. When her mother dies by suicide, she begins to wonder if she will be safe from this heredity. She marries a man who also seems to have it all. They have three children and live in an upscale development in Orange County, California. Her husband is a physician who is highly respected and well loved. Everything seems perfect. But this isn't the life fate has chosen for Ann. Through a tragedy for which she blames herself, she loses her family, her home, nearly everything. We meet her later as she is homeless, merely surviving on the street, and held captive by her own delusions. She makes friends with a man she calls "Walker" and they develop a life together. The three sections of the book concern, first, Ann herself and her story. The second and third parts of the book tell how this story appeared to her daughters and how it affected their lives.