Geraldine is freshly graduated from high school when she tells the only man she's ever been with that she's pregnant. Jim's immediate response is for her to get an abortion, and though it is the 60s, they find a doctor willing to perform it under the table. Although she attends the appointment, she flees from it shortly after, instead telling her parents of the ordeal. They talk her into getting married, but when Jim abandons her at the courthouse, they instead have her sent away, lest her young siblings learn of the shameful act she's committed. Living in a house for pregnant teens, Geraldine gets by until her due date, then heartbreakingly gives her daughter away—though she isn't supposed to, she names her daughter Caroline, at least for herself. Geraldine goes on living her life, never mentioning that she ever had a daughter, eventually having twins with the man she would remain married to until his dying breath. Jim has been in sporadic contact with her, and one day he messages her on Facebook, informing her that through ancestry.com, they've found Caroline—or Susan Lopez, as she was legally named. Geraldine doesn't wonder about who her parents are or how her life turned out because Susan died three years prior due to ovarian cancer. Susan's daughter, Rose, emails Geraldine asking to meet with her and telling her some background on her family. Susan and Rose never blamed Geraldine for her choice—they both understand what a difficult time and decision it was. Finally, Geraldine decides it is time to break the vow of silence her parents made her take and tells her daughter, Julie, what happened to her at seventeen.