DAMAGES is a memoir about one man's fight to overcome the psychological wounds created by his peculiar upbringing as he struggled to find his true identity and freedom. The story begins with the death of his abusive father, a Communist official. His mother is diagnosed with cancer, and he immediately returns to Macedonia to take care of her. Meanwhile, his more than thirty-year search for his biological mother ends, and he tells her his life story, starting with his lonely childhood and adolescence. After finding his "new mother" to be very understanding, he reveals his first gay experience in the army, his desire for self-realization that caused scandals in the College of National Security, his escape to Turkey where he transformed into a stunning "girl" after meeting a handsome wealthy man, and his return to Yugoslavia where he wandered in the underground world of a country that was falling apart. War is coming. And as Christian nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism rose, he experienced them directly, almost losing his life. But he eventually succeeded in immigrating to America. Although he finds his biological mother, he ultimately discovers that it is his adoptive mother's devotion that is irreplaceable.