In her autobiography, Dana J. Scala recounts the story of her family, which was plagued by fear and violence. Dana grows up with her mother, father, and sister. Her father's mother—her grandmother—is also always around. The two sisters witness their mother living in constant fear of doing something wrong, and they do too. The father is unpredictable. Periods when he is kind to his wife and children are spontaneously and unpredictably replaced by periods of aggression, mostly directed at the mother. Trivial matters often enrage him, causing him to become verbally and physically violent. The situation worsens when the father falls ill.