The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Ford, Ashley. Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir. Flatiron Books, 2021.

In Chapters 1 – 6, author Ashley Ford describes receiving a phone call from her mother telling her that her father is finally getting out of prison, where he has been for the majority of her life. This prompts Ford to begin describing her early childhood. She reminisces on playing with her younger brother and trying to protect him from her mother’s mood swings and abuse. Her mother’s boyfriend, too, caused turmoil in their lives, but Ford’s grandmother watched over the family to try to ensure no harm came to them.

In Chapters 7 – 12, Ford remembers her mother having a miscarriage and becoming depressed. Ford went away to live with her grandmother in a different state for a time, and fought with her mother on visits home. After her grandmother insisted the pair move back to be closer with Ford’s mother, Ford was upset but went with her. After adjusting to life in Indiana again, Ford became startled by her mother’s sudden insistence that she not spend time with boys and men. She instructed men to beware of sex and sexual assault, but Ford could not tell how to protect herself. A grown man, a family friend, forced her to kiss him at a New Year’s party one day, and Ford did not tell a soul. Then, her mother began dating a new boyfriend named Allen, who paid their bills for them and set them up in a house.

In Chapters 13 – 18, Ford describes realizing that Allen treated her mother horribly. She could not help her mother, though, and soon got a boyfriend of her own named Bradley. Bradley tried to coax her into sexual activity, but Ford always resisted. After breaking up with him, she agreed to meet with Bradley one last time in a shed behind her house. There, Bradley sexually assaulted her. Ford did not tell anyone but became depressed and felt constantly in danger. She would hang out after school with teachers to avoid going home. One day, while shopping with her grandmother, Ford discovered that her father had been in prison her whole life because he raped two women. The discovery, paired with her own experience of being raped, floored her.

In Chapters 19 – 24, Ford recalls joining the school band in high school and befriending a boy named Brett, whom she would go on to date. She says having sex with Brett for the first time was liberating because it was of her own volition. Around the same time, Ford was applying for colleges and was accepted to Ball State University. To her surprise, her mother was supportive of her going and helped her pay her fees. At college, Brett came out as gay and the pair broke up. Ford was devastated but managed to make new friends and find her way as an independent young woman.