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Chapter 1 Emergent Visions

• The opening chapter clarifies the premise of the book, which studies five women who are shaping their lives as life occurs, not choosing a goal and working toward it, thus comparing life to improvisational art.

• The author argues that a continual redefinition of life is more valuable than modeling one's life after historical figures, or generations past. This ideal is becoming particularly relevant for women as their role in the household changes.

Chapter 2 In the Company of Friends

• The eldest woman profiled in the book is Joan, a woman who dabbles in jewelry-making. The youngest of the group is Ellen, a physician and psychiatrist who works with the homeless - she was the first to make the connection between the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and the rise in homelessness in the 1970s.

• Ellen struggles with her work, particularly when she is assigned to work...

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