It's 1968 and Cathryn Vogeley is eighteen, unmarried and pregnant. With a wedding no longer an option, she decides to put her baby girl up for adoption and never think about it again. Her decision shapes the rest of her life.

For decades Cathryn allows this choice to define her value as a woman, a wife, and a mother. In every relationship, in every hobby, she searches for something or someone to soothe the constant ache in her chest created by the loss of her infant daughter. Cathryn's search for healing reveals that her grief is not only for the child she gave up, but the childhood she lost.

This beautifully-written memoir tells the haunting story of a woman who spends almost fifty years overcoming the consequences of one decision in order to find forgiveness, understanding, and peace.