William McGee recounts his journey as a "student" at the VA Western Blind Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto, California where he resided for six weeks with 30 other low vision and blinded veterans and together they learned how to cope with sight loss. The author juxtapositions the VA's descriptions of the various components of the treatment program (Visual Skills, Orientation and Mobility, Living Skills, Manual Skills, Computer Access Training, Recreation Therapy, Adjustment to Sight Loss, and Family Training) with his own day-to-day experiences and observations.