Eight-year-old Patti is caught reading in her bedroom by her mother who warns her not to be a bookworm because no one will marry her. From this early start, she faces the enormity of her educational disadvantage and lack of family support with parents who are unschooled, unaware of the importance of education, and unable to offer nurturing or guidance. She finds a different source of validation by competing with her classmates academically. Despite good grades, her parents forbid her to attend college and disown her. Banished and without money, she makes her way to college. There she cautiously embarks on her path by emulating those she admires and rejecting negative influences.

This inspiring autobiography from a female scientist and physician takes us on an adventure of learning, adaptation, and discovery. Biomedical research, including field work on epileptic baboons in Africa, earns her a PhD from UCLA medical school. The course of her own research takes her to Germany and England for three years, immersing her in a bold new academic and cultural experience.

Confident that her background as a medical research scientist serves her, Patti changes her career to clinical medicine and receives an MD from Washington University. She discovers life as a physician to be her true calling, one that draws on expertise as both a healer and a teacher. As revealed through patient and personal stories, she gains empathy, compassion, and understanding of the importance of personal dignity. She finds everlasting richness in a balanced life of family and career.