The story of Judy Hartzell begins with the disappearance of her father and the murder of her mother--two events that shocked the small community of Lost Creek, West Virginia, a region of Appalachia in the 1940s. She is separated from her six siblings when she and her sister are eventually adopted by a couple in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with just stories and shadowy memories of her childhood. Judy finds a deep inner strength and independence that would lead her through a life of work, acquiring a college education, raising a family while traveling, and living in various cities in the United States and abroad.