How would you live if you lost your hands? Could you feed yourself? Clean yourself? What about opening a door? How would you dress yourself, or tie your shoes? Would everyone you ever loved consider you a freak? A monster? Pamela Ruka knows the answers to these questions, and more. When she was six years old, she lost her hands in the accident that claimed her mother's life. She is taken in by a grandfather who holds her hostage for eight years, hoping for insurance money to pay his mounting gambling debts. He locks her in his Albuquerque home, hiding her from the world, and making her eat off the floor like a dog. In those years when other kids are in school learning to play games, Pamela stays home alone and compensates for her lost hands by studying patterns, learning to anticipate and avoid what she cannot control. Through a series of adventures Pamela escapes her grandfather and grows from a helpless orphan into an independent young woman who transforms her handicap into the ability to save the lives of children with leukemia.