When her young mother vanishes, four-month-old Anna Mae McBride is thrust into the unwilling hands of her alcoholic uncle, Walter Lipinski, and his doormat of a wife, Sarah. As Anna Mae grows up, she finds herself subject to blackouts, and she's not sure why. Her psychiatrist thinks she might have traumatic amnesia, but all the diagnosis does is complicate her already troubled life, affecting her relationships involving family, friends, and love. At first she tries to deal with it, but she soon discovers that she will have to overcome it once and for all. For she can't remember the crucial information she witnessed during a recent blackout. And her life depends on it.