In 1971, when the author adopted a young boy called Adam, he knew very little of the child's background, beyond the fact that his mother had died of alcohol poisoning. This is the story of his relationship with Adam, who suffers from foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The past 20 years have been a time of alarming discovery about FAS, both for the growing Dorris family, through Michael's marriage to Louise Erdrich, and for the internationl medical community. This book tells the inspiring story of a family confronted with a problem for which there is no known solution. This book won the National Book Critics Non-fiction Award in 1990.