The book spans 120 years, beginning and ending with stories about both the city and Lippman's family. It starts when her paternal grandparents joined tens of thousands of Eastern European Jews who settled in Newark and ends in the present, with a nod to the city's burgeoning revitalization. Throughout the work, Lippman boldly addresses societal upheavals she experienced in Newark: the anti-Semitic taunts from children down the street, the fear associated with her family's ties to the Communist Party in the midst of the Red Scare, and the growing taint of racism as Newark's population rapidly flipped from primarily white to majority black. In this exploration of the city's effect on her life and its evolution in a changing world, Lippman's affection for her hometown shines through on every page.