Boo is a young person who has mental health issues. She is a good student who has played several roles in order to fit into family life, her school's and college's expectations, and her personal, exacting demands. Her teenage history has been shaped largely by her family's affluence and the expectations engendered by her surroundings of "success": material wealth, "appropriate" relationships, and the appearance that life is good. But everyone Boo knows is playing a role.

Then Boo's abuses—drinking alcohol and using drugs—exacerbate her issues and throw her out of control, forcing her to meet the part of her that she has always feared encountering but knew was there. She is an addict who feels helpless and unable to function as before or be cared for until she meets an advocate for mentally ill people. Boo is shown that her perception (which she has had for a while) about the defects of the system in the U.S. to support or even to know much that is pertinent to people with mental illnesses has been accurate. She discovers that many problems have been allowed because people avoid direct action to stop them.

The power in this story is the truth that it tells about society. The book conveys the message that these truths need to be expressed, and common sense must be applied to guide treatment. Appropriate education and the correct application of health care need to be priorities. Everyone is vulnerable to misunderstanding, just as everyone is vulnerable to illness and various abuses. But if people are willing to face the truth, they can become more aware of effective actions to prevent and treat the problems.

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