Circa 1950-60's fictional tale spun around the true-life memoir of the author's moving and cathartic journey as she chronicles her mother Cynthia's illicit affair with Laurence, her best friend Anna's husband. In painful, but sometimes humorous recollection, she gives an account of the lover's 3000-mile desperate run with Laurence's abducted twin sons, Cynthia's two children, and their lovechild. The escape from New York to California offers them a new beginning, where they assume the identity of Reverend and Mrs. Laurence Greene-and despite the hypocrisy, the Reverend rules his house with a twisted fanatical iron fist.