Schroff is 35 when she first meets Maurice in New York. She is working in a satisfying job and accustomed to moving at a brisk professional pace through life. She believes it is her mother’s guardian spirit that leads her to stop and talk to Maurice, a child who begs her for change. From that first encounter, Schroff and Maurice develop an unconventional friendship. Maurice remains the constant in her life as she loses parents, begins and ends relationships, and comes to term with a future that is different than the one she imagined for herself. Schroff adopts a maternal role with Maurice, whom she provides support, food, clothing, toys, and positive experiences. Schroff realizes her dream of having her own children through her self-appointed position as Maurice’s surrogate mother. Although Schroff experiences two divorces and the disappointment of never having her own children, she finds a family in Maurice. 

When Schroff first meets him, Maurice is 11 years old. By the end of the memoir, he is a grown man. In the space between, Maurice loses both his parents and his grandmother. He also watches as most of the people he knows spend time in jail for dealing drugs or die from their addictions.