Jim quits school in 6th grade to work. Age 20 he’s sent to fight in the Korean War where he learns of his dad’s death. His mom gets him a hardship discharge. He joins the Air Force, learns to drink hard with another airman. His C.O. punishes him but Jim still drinks. Finally, he is sent to Guam where he gets drunk, wears an officer’s rank and then breaks into a shoe store while drunk. He feigns mental illness, is shipped home and given a Dishonorable Discharge. He fails to show up for his own wedding because he’s drunk. His Mama gives up on him and he sells his blood to buy wine. Goes to a rescue mission, hears the gospel but not saved as the first part ends.

Jim begins a 20-year odyssey, drifting around the country, staying at rescue missions, riding freight trains. When he tries to cash a stolen Treasury check, he’s arrested and sent to prison, where he studies college courses. After three years he is paroled but violates his parole by getting drunk and riding a train out of state. He goes back to prison. When he’s released, he still drinks, ends up in jail but his family helps him, sending him to an alcohol recovery center. He stays sober, graduates from college and works for the state. He goes to see a blind and paralyzed woman who leads him to Christ. Married and in ministry.

Sam is raised on a North Carolina farm near a godly grandmother. He goes forward at age thirteen during revival but no one explains how to follow Christ. At fifteen he abandons godly efforts and drinks with friends. At seventeen he and a cousin leave home and don’t tell their parents for eight weeks. He is drafted, goes to the Korean War and when his girlfriend breaks their engagement, he drinks harder. His sergeant and captain warn him, and he promises God during a fierce artillery battle that he will live for Him. He doesn’t. He comes home, drinks too much and has an accident, then lives with his sister who is saved. He falls in love with Shirley, whose family he helps one day. Finally, he surrenders to Christ, marries Shirley and goes to Bible college. Still in ministry.

Valerie grows up on a large dairy farm. Her older brother molests her until she’s nine and refuses. Her father dies when she is sixteen and she and her mother move to a small town where Valerie blossoms but has illicit encounters. She works to stay in college for two years, then meets a man in the air force, thinks she’s in love and talks him into marriage. They are miserable. He’s transferred to Germany where he confesses to meeting prostitutes and selling on the black market. She forgives and they return to the states where she has an affair with a man and both leave their spouses. When she gets pregnant and has an abortion, both are guilt-ridden; but they marry. A woman visits, wanting to take their children to church. Finally, they go and Valerie unburdens to the pastor. After several moves, she hears the gospel and prays for salvation.

The first part begins as Frank visits an inmate in prison. He relates how he was bullied by his older brother and hoped the brother would get killed in Vietnam, then felt responsible when this happened. He is expelled from school many times; his mother threatens to kill him and banishes him from home except to sleep. His father doesn’t know what to do. Frank goes into a black depression, and at 15 sees a psychiatrist at school. He steals, lies and is permanently expelled for violence. He and a friend smoke pot and steal marijuana from a grower. The first part ends as Frank, now saved, witnesses to the inmate.

Frank joins the army but is so undisciplined that he is discharged honorably. Back home he meets Cheryl. They fall in love and marry and she has a calming effect. He works hard, goes to college but becomes briefly hooked on prescription drugs for stress. He works for a biomedical firm that moves them to Georgia where the owner prays for Frank one day. He’s transferred to South Carolina, and a preacher comes to their house, invites them to church to hear evangelist, Phil Kidd. The last night they go and Frank is convicted but not saved. The pastor and evangelist visit again and Frank submits to Christ. His dad professes faith before he dies. Frank forgives his mother and is now in ministry.

Her father’s murder when she is seven leads to her mother’s mental breakdown and the dispersion of the four sisters. Several uncles try to molest Mary. She and a younger sister end up with their maternal grandmother, who is poor but firm and loving. Mary longs to kill the murderer. Her sister runs away but Mary does well in school, graduating salutatorian. Her grandmother dies that day, and Mary weds her high school sweetheart who is abusive. Finally, Mary takes their two children and divorces him. She drinks to ease the pain, meets Jay and they marry. After he quits drinking, she talks with his sister, who leads her to Christ. She is able to forgive the murderer and serve.

Earl’s dad doesn’t drink but his mother drinks and uses drugs daily. She won’t let him join Cub Scouts because she doesn’t believe in God. At age eleven he begins listening to heavy metal music and the lyrics lead him astray. He cuts school, hangs out in bars and leads a degenerate life, quitting school at 16. He attempts suicide and hates his life and himself. He meets Amy and they live together. She urges him to quit drinking & drugs. A friend invites him to church and he goes. Then a man from church comes to his job and leads him to Christ. His family ridicules him, but Earl is still in ministry.

As the youngest in a family of five, Jack grows up feeling like a loser. When he gains too much weight, a doctor puts him on amphetamines, launching fifteen years of drug addiction. He often fakes illness to get morphine at hospitals. He forms a music group at fourteen and in college, then strikes out on his own, moving to Colorado. But his drug abuse ends his music career, and he works at a publishing house where he meets a Christian. After numerous accidents, his brother’s witness and then a near-fatal time of wandering in a blizzard, he calls his friend who leads him to Christ in 1971. Jack is still an evangelist.

Wayne’s parents drink and fight until he is eight when they go to church and profess faith in Christ. But his mother becomes disillusioned and they quit attending when he is twelve. He follows the world, learns karate and hurts others. He drinks, loses his license and his front teeth when he brashly rides a bull that horns him. His principal, a pastor, tries to warn him. He is badly burned by hot tar, promises to get back to God but doesn’t. Unable to work, he gets into drug dealing, has many close calls and even flies to Colombia, where God warns him again. Finally, he goes back to church, commits his life to Christ and walks away from drug dealing. Married with three daughters, he is faithful in ministry.