Mary Nixon recounts her life and experiences living in rural Yadkin County, North Carolina. She describes growing up on a tobacco farm, how her family grew most of the food they ate, and how she and her siblings would miss school in order to help process the tobacco before it could be taken to market. After high school Mrs. Nixon worked in several different factories until the age of 59, and discusses her experiences going on strike and participating in the picket line at the sheet metal factory she worked at. Mrs. Nixon describes her family, including how she met her husband on a blind date and her daughter's type 1 diabetes, explaining the effect that had on her return to "public work" and how she dealt with her daughter's insulin reactions at school.