A young girl, her twin sister and their brother witness their mother's suicide attempt. The mother is taken to a mental institution, leaving the children in the custody of an abusive father. Eventually the paternal grandparents step in, but the impoverished immigrants from Greece do little to enrich the lives of the children beyond removing the girls from periodic nightly abuse and their brother from regular beatings. The hardships of growing up amongst dysfunction is recounted by the author with candor as she struggles with her family, with school, with other children who live nearby . . . and with poverty in her recollections of times both good and bad.