Chernin explores the stages of change through which women travel, from idealization of the past and revising it: blaming the mother and forgiving her, letting go of her and, ultimately, giving birth to a new self.

Chernin's tales of women's transformations are arresting and full of depth: one woman, adopted as a child, embarks on a journey to locate her birth mother; another finds the source of a voice that haunts her - the voice of her daughter, given up at birth; a third unlocks her own creative process and paints her way out of a painful symbiosis. Framing these stories is the narrative of Chernin's relationship with her own daughter and the insights won from three generations of women in her family.