Mary Farley grew up in an Iowa orphanage. Never being adopted, she ages out from the orphanage and enrolls at Iowa State University as a ward of the state. While there, she becomes best friends with Annie Wilson, a free spirit of similar upbringing. They become nurses and travel with the Red Cross to Europe during WWII. Margie, as she is affectionately known, becomes involved with a patient who teaches her about life and death and the importance of family and survival. She eventually travels to Guatemala with a man she barely knows to keep a promise she made. Her life undergoes many changes, good and bad, while her career choices touch many people. Margie's exploits become legendary as she is revered by friends, enemies and an entire nation. She is by no means a superwoman. She is merely a survivor. This story follows her exploits from age 10 until her death at age 79.