Meet Jemima Callahan. Conceived in the back of a car, born to a teen mom, and known to be the illegitimate offspring of the town's married preacher- she learns young how hard the world can be. Her mama said it best: "I was conceived in passion," my mama would sigh regretfully. "Then I was born among passionless, worn-out people." Jemima knows that the Reverend Parker Peabody was her mama's true love and only lover, and she absorbs her mother's notion that sexual pleasure is the presence of God. Her mother's mental illness lands Jemima in foster care, where she faces sexual and physical abuse until leaving home. This novel chronicles her coming-of-age and finding herself, meeting a rag-tag cast of characters and selling herself to survive until she meets a lawyer who offers her a position as a housekeeper. As she navigates her new world, she pines for her father and hopes one day to meet him.

Will Jemima find the Reverend Parker Peabody? Will he live up to the fairytale her mother has spun about him? Is the truth worth the risk?.