In an effort to help with the care of her aging mother, Dr. Anderson retired from her professorship and closed her forty-year-old clinical psychological practice in a northern city and returned to live in her hometown on her family's rural farm in the Mississippi Delta.
Culture shock and struggles to overcome forced her to reflect on her Southern roots and accept America's ideals and gifts she received from her parents that helped her become a successful person in spite of difficult conditions. Crossing the color line of her youth, her love for helping others, involvement in the women's struggles for equal pay and black people's struggles for a decent education, and teaching students to live better lives are contained in the mix.
This memoir shares stories by Dr. Anderson and her youngest son, Steven. His are about the effects of her struggles on her growing family.