The following version of this novel was used to create the guide: Polley, Sarah. Run Towards the Danger. Penguin Randomhouse, 2022.

In the first essay of the memoir entitled "Alice, Collapsing," Polley is under tremendous stress as she plays Alice in Alice Through the Looking Glass in Stratford. She soon develops a series of tics and then full-blown stage fright. She actually rushes a major back surgery just so that she does not have to play Alice anymore. Of course, the play itself is part of the problem. Polley knows that the Alice books' author, Charles Dodgson, was in love with Alice Liddell (the original inspiration for Alice), and Dodgson's pedophilia, along with Polley's father's sympathy for it, makes starring in the play exquisitely uncomfortable. At 11 years old, Polley also carries the terrible burden of watching her mother die of colon cancer without being able to process her own grief.

In the second essay of the memoir, "The Woman Who Stayed Silent," Polley explains how Jian Ghomeshi (a Canadian journalist) choked her during painful sex when she was 16 years old and he was 28. She pleaded with him to stop but he would not. Subsequently, Polley turns this frightening encounter into her "worst date" party story for years. She also acts in an oddly ingratiating manner around Ghomeshi when she meets him at work functions. Polley doesn't understand her trauma response until many years later when myriad other women come forward with similar violent stories about the journalist. Polley realizes that she was trying to stay safe and not cause trouble after the assault, behaviors for which women are carefully groomed.

As readers begin the third essay, "High Risk," Polley has been checked into the hospital ward for high-risk pregnancies. Polley has placenta previa, meaning her placenta has implanted itself somewhere it ought not have. This diagnosis comes with a high risk of hemorrhage and significant risk to the mother. Polley is anxious almost all of the time, and it is on the verge of becoming a mother that she grieves her own mother most deeply. Polley has the added complication of gestational diabetes and the strict diet that comes with it. Basically, she is hungry all the time and dreams of batches of rich food like her mother used to make. The joyous news is that Eve, her daughter, is born healthy (though not without some complications), and mother and baby have an excellent prognosis.

In the fourth essay entitled "Mad Genius," Polley describes the many dangers she faced as a child actor, most of them during the time she worked for Terry Gilliam, the director of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. She had to film many takes of scenes with explosives going off and small fires blazing. She also filmed scenes in a freezing water tank for hours at a time. As she grew up, she held her parents primarily responsible for exposing her to the dangers on this set. Polley felt her parents were negligent and should have intervened on her behalf. Gradually, as the years wore on, Polley began to see that Gilliam too was responsible for what was occurring on his own film set. At first, Polley had assumed that Gilliam was simply a "mad genius" married to his work. Today, especially after meeting and speaking with the special effects director of Baron Munchausen, Polley knows that Gilliam was responsible for putting her squarely in the path of danger.

The fifth essay, "Dissolving the Boundaries," opens with a vivid dream. Polley dreams that she is walking on a pristine beach with her six-year-old daughter, Eve. Later, the two walk on a red sand beach and feel more anxiety. The end result of the dream is that Polley strongly desires to go to Prince Edward Island, and her husband David helps her get her three young daughters ready so that they can travel to the island. Polley had actually spent many years on Prince Edward Island filming Road to Avonlea. These were years of grueling workdays, not enough sleep, and working through fever. These were years during which the young Polley was stalked by a man in his fifties or sixties. One of her worst memories was of a time she tried to take a beach walk by herself, but as a famous child actor, she attracted masses of zombie-like followers walking behind her with every new step. This trip as an adult to Prince Edward Island is a successful effort to see that her unhappy past could stay safely in the past. Her present visit to Prince Edward Island with her three beautiful girls is literally a dream come true.

In the sixth and final essay, "Run Towards the Danger," Polley tells the story of recovering from a severe concussion. She experiences migraines, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, and a host of other symptoms. The toughest part of her injury is that no one can tell her exactly what to do to recover--should she nap in a dark room or walk on a sunny sidewalk? No matter what regimen she tries, the symptoms worsen. Now, Polley's husband David begins to take over many of the household chores and almost all of the childcare. Just as Polley is losing hope, she sees a screenwriter friend on the street. This friend (Meredith) had also suffered a serious concussion, but she is now taking on the world free of crippling pain. Polley writes to her and finds out that she has visited a Pittsburgh doctor named Michael Collins. Hope builds in Polley as she plans for her own trip to the United States. Dr. Collins advises Polley to work out every day according to a rigorous plan his experts devise. He also demands that she stay out of dark rooms (no more naps!) and accept every social engagement she is offered. The doctor insists that she track her achievements instead of her symptoms.

Basically, Polley is to run towards the danger. If something scares her and makes her afraid of a relapse, she is to embrace it wholeheartedly. Polley finds that she manages social occasions quite well, and when she feels a migraine coming on, a particularly brisk walk will make it fade. "Run towards the danger" becomes her mantra for surviving life as well. When she forcefully takes on what she fears the most (writing honestly about stories that have paralyzed her for decades), she always wins.