Five-year-old Joey Harrison’s world is turned upside down when he and his seven-year-old sister, Beth, are placed in foster care in 1942. With the war in Europe underway and the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, the children’s father joins the Army despite the pleadings of his young wife.     

From 1941 until 1947 Joey’s mother will have five additional children fathered by another man. All of the children are subsequently placed in foster care where Joey and his siblings suffer unconscionable abuse at the hands of foster parents. They are shifted from foster care to foster care, including one stay in an orphanage for Joey.     

Joey’s mother is age 40 when she dies due to cirrhosis of the liver and the children’s father petitions the State of New York, requesting that Joey come and live with him. What follows for the boy, as well as his siblings, is a loveless path of more foster homes, formidable hurdles, and abuse until Joey ultimately triumphs and reaches the top of the stairs. It’s an inspirational journey the reader will witness as they see Joey and his six siblings become reunited after overcoming multiple hardships and are finally reunited over twenty-five years later.