U Lee-Johnson describes her life in stunning emotionally charged abstract paintings that describe the exhilaration of a surgery that corrected a disfigurement, the joys of being a parent, the horrors of a mental hospital, and the serine beauty of the Caribbean. This is a staggering journey into the philosophy and soul of a person. The paintings are charged with feelings and the accompanying text sets a unique context for the meaning of the paintings.
U Lee-Johnson was born disfigured, one eye did not develop, into a society that stigmatized handicap. Her mother suffered stress and severe malnutrition during the Korean War. The book illustrates screams, conflict, and shame with parents, a surgery that opened the door to social life, adolescence, mid-life mental breakdown, divorce, and recovery. The later chapters have paintings depicting sailing a sailboat through the Caribbean, an interest in Fractal geometry, and even geological rocks called Tafoni.