Author Brittany K. Barnett marries her personal story with the stories of her clients, all individuals unjustly sentenced in the War on Drugs. Growing up Black in rural Texas in the 1980s and 1990s, Barnett dreamed of being a corporate attorney. She admired Clair Huxtable, who was a Black female attorney and mother on The Cosby Show. Academically gifted and blessed with a loving and supportive family and community, Barnett achieved her goal. She became a corporate attorney, and a highly successful one. On one level, she was living the American dream.

Yet her life story highlights the flip side of that dream. Experiencing the effects of racism, and witnessing the destructive effects of the resultant poverty, Barnett depended on the support of her family and community to succeed. When her mother developed an addiction to drugs, Barnett saw her punished but not treated or rehabilitated. She experienced the trauma of having a mother in prison for two years, which gave her deep empathy for those unjustly sentenced for nonviolent drug crimes.

Barnett could not turn away from those sentenced to excessive prison terms for minor involvement in the drug trade. She understood that she, her mother, or any other Black person could have just as easily been trapped in that nightmare.