Viola creates an interesting dynamic when the story begins she speaks of her father as being a world renowned cellist. A man that people would flock to take pictures with, listen to him play, and take classes from. He all of his children to play and it was a house full or prodigies. The love that her father had for her mother was like poetry. She reminisces about when her mother was pregnant with all of their children her dad would take his cello to the hospital and he would play in her room and people would gather outside just so they could listen to him play and experience the joy and passion that he had with every stroke of his strings. What Viola realizes later in life after her mother dies and her father slips into a deep depression is that the person she admired the most was also the person who hurt her the most. When her mother unexpectedly dies, and Viola is left to care for her father she takes solace in making money the only way that she knows how by playing her violin in the subway. But when her father eventually tells her that no respectable violinist would ever play in the subway she is forced to see her father for exactly who he is.

Many years later when she becomes a mother unfortunately the cycle of emotional abuse continues when she forces her daughter to play the violin. But it is when her daughter reminds her that she is not her father and tells her how she makes her feel that Viola realizes and comes to terms with her childhood. A beautiful story of the love that a father has for his wife and his children that manifests itself through the playing of music into a physical and emotional abusive situation. But as Viola learns with therapy and the passing of time it is possible to heal these wounds and become successful human beings.