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The Hot pot
While Jeanette Walls lived in Battle Mountain with the rest of her family, they decided to visit a hot spring. Her Father (Rex) sees her at the edge and drags Jeanette out deeper into the water, he pushes her out letting her go on her own. She thrashes trying to get air, Rex soon grabs her to allow her to breath. Once again he pushes her out into the water and keeps repeating, telling her to "Sink or swim". She is eventually able to find the edge and pull herself out. -
Christmas Fire
Jeanette, her siblings and her mother all put in effort to make the Christmas in Phoenix the best. They got gifts and a nice Douglas fir for a Christmas tree.They all woke up excited Christmas day but as they prepared to open the gifts, Jeanette's father decides to throw a lighter into the tree, setting it ablaze, the gifts, the decorations and the tree all burn to the ground. Jeanette's mother gets the fire put out, leaving everyone looking at Rex with intense anger for ruining Christmas. -
Business Trip
While Rosemary and Rex go back to Phoenix to collect their things, they leave their children with Rex's mother (Irma). A few days after they are gone, Irma has Brian alone and says she is fixing a hole in his pants but that is not what Jeanette sees . Over this Lori and Irma start to slap each other resulting in Jeannette and Lori tackling Irma. Once Rex and Rosemary returned they learn of what has happened and instead of reprimanding Irma, they get angry with their children. -
Broken Promises
Even tho Rex promised Jeanette that he would stop drinking as her 10th birthday present to her, and he did. He got sober stayed that way for a while but breaks his promise to Jeanette when his mother dies. -
Losing Faith
After a fight among Rex and Rosemary, both of Jeanette's parents, she goes to her mother and tells her to leave Rex. Jeanette no longer thinks he is capable of taking care of the family and she loses faith in him and his ability to be a proper father and member of the family. -
More Broken Promises
When Jeanette and her siblings were hungry, Rex said that he would go and get the food and to give the money to him. So Jeanette did this but soon realizing it was the wrong choice. When her father did not return for hours and when he finally did, he was drunk and without food to feed his starving family. Breaking yet another promise he said he would keep. -
I'm Not That Kinda Girl
Rex plays pool with Robbie, soon after he asks if Jeanette wants to come upstairs to listen to a Acoff record, her father says sure and gives a wink. They dance but Robbie pushes Jeannette onto the bed and starts kissing her, Jeanette tries to tell him shes not that kinda girl but he does not care. So to make him stop she displays the scars, which stops him and Jeanette make her exit at that. On the way home her Rex hands her $40 but this does not make up for how mad she is with her father. -
Smashed Hopes and Dreams
When Lori and Jeannette are trying to get to New york, Lori does a sculpture of one of the literary geniuses and the best wins a scholarship. Lori spends many days on the sculpture and as she is, Rex walks in and says that Shakespeare is a fraud with multiple writers in his plays, a few moments later Rex smashes the face. Rex says its fixed and how she could write a paper instead about his fraud and could call the sculpture Mute Bard. Lori and including Jeannette are very upset by this. -
Stolen Money
Before Lorri leaves to go to New York, Jeannet finds Oz completely empty of all the money they had been saving for so long. Jeanette goes and tells Lorri the money is gone and they both know who took it. They go to their father but he denies all claims they make of him taking it. Soon after Jeanette gives Lorrie a babysitting gig so she can get a ticket to New York even with the money gone. -
Mended Bond
When Jeanette's father is sick and dying, he reaches out to her after shutting himself away and distancing. They talk about their life together and the mistakes made and regrets that her father still has for the way he treated his family. He dies soon late but not before Jeanette has begun to forgive him.
