忙着画画 三岁小孩告诉医生不久后,Jeannette的父亲Rex来到医院并偷走孩子。Rex不认为他女儿需要更多医疗帮助。她会没事。她强健,经验会令她更强力。通过热狗和烧伤故事,Jeanette为忽略模式和其他不良育儿技巧搭建舞台,以塑造她的童年

Jeannette portrays her mother as a woman who felt her own career was devastated because she had had children. Rose Mary complains about having to take care of children even though she rarely appears to do much for them. Rose Mary's attention is most often focused on herself. She has been trained as a teacher but seldom works. When she does land a job at a school desperate enough to hire her, she claims she is overwhelmed by the paperwork of grading and evaluating and turns much of this chore over to her two oldest daughters, Lori and Jeannette, who are not yet teens. Rose Mary only goes to work when the family is desperately hungry because Rex has either lost another job or has blown his salary on gambling and alcohol.

家常大半夜离家,从加利福尼亚州到亚利桑那州后到西弗吉尼亚州。他们乘车在沙漠中心拆散,强迫行走。当Rex把他的孩子藏在移动货车后座时,当后门打开时几乎失去他们而他并不知道这一点时。他从未解释为什么他们必须突然离开家,但Jeanette隐约说她父亲似乎总有麻烦,多半是因为没有支付帐单。

Rex和Rose Mary有一个好特征,它们鼓励教育,教孩子们读数学,启发阅读罗斯玛丽教他们画画 雷克斯对物理和科学有良好的思想儿童小时很少上学,而往往留学自学自学Jeanette和她兄弟Brian都喜欢探险 。虽然他们还是小学生,但他们常常自己前往沙漠寻找石块 。有一次,他们发现父亲的手枪并用它射击邻里霸主 。这也是Rex有一天在醉酒摇篮中回家,除了把他妻子扔出二楼窗外。

珍妮特支持爱父母。她父亲曾把珍妮特扔进深水池并教她游泳。珍妮特认为她可能淹死,但她仍然爱父亲。布赖恩有一天发现,她妈妈背后正在吃大块糖果条,尽管孩子数日内没有吃。珍妮特的反应不是赤裸的愤怒和厌恶!取而代之的是,她为母亲的弱点感到抱歉

后半故事大都发生在西弗吉尼亚州Welch山镇雷克斯酒量越来越差,他每周离家数日。罗斯玛丽希望返回雷克斯故乡后事情会好转。所以他们离开大凤凰亚利桑那州,Rose Mary继富母死后继承的房子,并乘另一辆破车前往RexWelch父母家

Erma and Ted Walls are not happy to see the family, and they let the children know this. When Rex and Rose Mary leave the children there and return to Arizona to pick up some things they left behind, Erma abuses the children. When their parents return, Rex's mother tells him that he must find a new place for his family to live in. What Rex finds is a shack that sits haphazardly on the top of a steep hill on the outskirts of town. The roof leaks. The toilet does not work. And when winter comes around, they have no money to pay for electricity or to buy fuel for the heating stove.

孩子们在Welch上学,但他们往往不缺粮。为了填饱肚子,Jeannette和Brian在学校搜垃圾桶,寻找其他学生丢弃的剩余午餐。等Jeannette和Lori上中学时,他们下定决心尽快离开Welch并离开父母。他们辛勤工作支付微薄光是Lori毕业并计划搬进纽约前,Rex发现他们的小猪银行并窃取所有来之不易的现金

故事结束时,阅读者知道所有四个孩子都来到纽约,但总有一天发现父母决定跟随他们。Lori、Brian和Jeannette自有公寓并开始新生活。他们成功。Rex和Rose Mary先在街上生活,再像棚户区一样生活。当孩子们主动帮助他们时,父母拒绝,就像Rose Mary在回忆录启动时拒绝帮助一样。