Peake uses prevailing and emerging models of life-span development along with examples from Cinema to animate psychological understanding and application.

The use of film offers powerful opportunities for anecdotes, clinical applications, and examples of life stories drawn from popular and lesser-known cinema. The addition of movies as metaphors make the material accessible to lay, student, and professional readers. Drawn from numerous workshops and symposia using this material, Peake finds this emphasis breathes life into teaching, negotiating, and growing from new perspectives.