Torn from an idyllic life with a loving, extended family in 1960's Alabama, young Johnny Turnipseed found himself in Minneapolis, Minnesota with a father he no longer recognized and empty cupboards.  A.C. Turnipseed's alcoholism and womanizing started a chain reaction of poverty, violence, addiction and despair that nearly destroyed three generations.

From lost and frightened little boy to gang leader, drug dealer and pimp to one of the nation's most respected pioneers of community restoration, John Turnipseed's story of transformation and restoration is told with unflinching honesty and contagious hope.