As an only child reeling from the demolition of her parents' toxic marriage, the New York City underground music scene offers a young Ali a different family of misfits and talented outsiders to belong to. She becomes the bass player for edgy band Speedball Baby, a decision that will take her around the world - from onstage at the legendary CBGBs to the red-light district of Amsterdam. She's often the only girl in a broken-down tour van, being strip-searched at the Croatian border, chased by lunatics, and navigating the seedy underbelly of a male-dominated music scene full of addiction, violence, and misogyny - all while keeping her sharp wit and dark humour intact. Rimmed with heavy black eyeliner and smelling faintly of cheap booze, The Ballad Of Speedball Baby is a pulse-quickening, unpredictable ride through the '90s music scene - alternately terrifying, hilarious, and painfully evocative - as well as a love letter to the power of female solidarity.