The memoir deals with Marnell's childhood in a wealthy D.C. suburb, her introduction to drugs, her entry into the world of fashion journalism, and her continued struggles with addiction, which constantly threatened to torpedo her career.

Her father is an abusive and controlling psychiatrist who eventually has her older sister sent to the Cross Creek Manor reform school, where her movements are severely restricted.

Marnell spends the next few years developing a drug habit, dropping in and out of colleges, and building contacts in the entertainment and fashion worlds.

This gives her a taste for magazine journalism and she uses her connections to nab an internship at Nylon, where she works for beauty editor Charlotte Rudge.

She immediately abuses her privileges but is protected from consequences by her intern, Godfrey-June, and the PR reps who are more interested in preserving their relationship with the magazine than in correcting her bad behavior.

Her only friend, a fellow junkie named Marco, encourages her to do harder drugs and becomes increasingly abusive and threatening towards her, repeatedly breaking into her home and robbing her.

After being cut off from the rest of her family, she turns to her wealthy grandmother, Mimi, who pays off her debts and allows her to stay with her in Charlottesville, Virginia.

When Jane Pratt launches the online magazine xoJane in 2011, Marnell's friend Lesley Arfin encourages her to apply.

Marnell is hired and works on articles regarding health, beauty, and drugs, finally able to write openly about her experiences as an addict.

After Whitney Houston dies in early 2012, Marnell writes about life as a woman who is a drug addict and the piece goes viral, leading her to negotiate a raise with xoJane.

[1] Anne Helen Petersen, writing for The New York Times, praised her for keeping a balance "between glamorizing her own despair and rendering it with savage honesty.