Documents the author's backpacking tours through some of the world's most dangerous regions, describing her work as a fledgling television reporter and her brutal fifteen-month incarceration in Somalia.

Traces the experiences of kidnapped documentary filmmaker Micah Garen, describing the constant threats of execution from his captors, and how his fiancee worked for his release through a network of journalists and Middle East contacts.

The author shares an intimate portrait of her father's captivity during the Lebanese Hostage Crisis and the effect of the surrounding political firestorm on both her family and the United States, sharing additional views about the role of the crisis in Middle East politics today.