By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with her, she was diagnosed with Complex PTSD: a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. Both of Stephanie's parents had abandoned her as a teenager after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd overcome her trauma, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Stephanie interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on a community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations.