Haley Emerson is a survivor. After enduring a childhood filled with the pain of a family thrown in turmoil by her alcoholic, womanizing father, Haley leaves Tennessee to establish a career on Wall Street, where greed and pragmatism are a way of life. But for Haley, the two evils serve as a refuge from her dysfunctional family. Haley views her success at a New York brokerage firm as a sign that she is finally free of her past and convinces herself that she will never be reckless and selfish like her father. Before long, however, she finds herself quelling her persistent inner demons with alcohol and doing anything and everything she needs to succeed-even if it means others suffer as a result. When she returns home for Christmas-where she plans, as always, to secretly measure her success in New York-she is once again forced to face the chronicle of her family's failures, fortunes, and self-inflicted madness. But when the consequences of her unscrupulous behavior on Wall Street come back to haunt her, Haley soon discovers just how tight a grip her family still has on her. The Emerson Gospel is the poignant tale of one woman's journey to freedom and a life worth living as she slowly discovers the power of unconditional love.