The story is a creative-nonfiction account of a three-month period during which a schizophrenic takes himself off medication, told from the point of view of the mother. The story brings the reader into mental hospitals, board and care homes, private homes, and the streets. It introduces people who are mentally ill and those who deal with them. The book is an expanded version of an essay which appeared in several publications and which won the Eugene V. Debs essay award for 1993.