A collection of true stories based on Knuth's experiences at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in the inner city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, opens to reveal the author as a reluctant new volunteer at the store, sharing that her middle-class, suburban, church-going background has not prepared her well for this kind of work. By the end of the book, she has undergone a transformation of sorts, and will never view the poor in the same way again.