Born in East Saint Louis to a drug-addicted mother who died when he was eight years old, author Orvin Kimbrough chronicles his early years through foster care, orphanages, physical and sexual abuse, hunger, and poverty. He could have joined a gang. He could have become a teen father. He could have fallen into drugs and the violence of the streets. He could have ended up in prison. He could have been shot dead.

But he rose above it all to become a prosperous leader in the Saint Louis business and nonprofit communities. Instead of succumbing to life on the streets, Kimbrough sought the one thing that would redeem him from that dismal, expected fate-education. This is the story of a young man who, despite all the forces that worked against him, fiercely determined to make a better life for himself and is resolute about showing others the way.