Profoundly disturbed from her own life of abuse and poverty, Sarah takes him on the road with her, moving through aimless and dangerous encounters with a series of men, some of whom beat and rape Jeremiah.

She becomes a lot lizard (a prostitute who works the truck stops) and eventually slides into a paranoid breakdown from crystal meth abuse.

Its stories are more violent, their situations more disturbing; but in Jeremiah's attempts to comprehend and redefine his mistreatment, the book shares Sarah's poetic language and sometimes fluid treatment of time.

They also utilize the narrative device of having one's hidden life revealed to the judgment and violence of others: The young Jeremiah shoplifts (on instruction of his mother) and is caught and beaten by the storeowner – a suffering and humiliation that recurs in his wanderings with Sarah as they struggle to feed themselves.

Filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig read his foreword to the book's 2016 reissue by HarperCollins, and the stories were read by Christelle de Castro, Donovan Leitch, Laura Desiree, Kerris Dorsey, Julie Mintz, Winsome Brown, Michael Imperioli, Libby Mintz, Joshua Caleb Johnson, Darnell Martin, Laura Albert (as JT LeRoy), Lawrence Rothman, Paul Mendez, Pamela Sneed, Shirley Manson, Laila Hayani, Soko, Alissa Bennett, Daniel Newman, and Robin Weigert.