This book is a collection of short stories of travel, adventure, and growing up as an Italian Catholic. The author tells stories of her great grandparents that came to America, and how it was literally murder getting out of Sicily. Coming from being poor peasants in Italy, America promised to provide the family with the opportunities to become wealthy aristocrats, even if one had to bootleg whiskey to do it. Shocked by the faith-shaking realization that nuns were actually human beings underneath all that garb, she was still hopeful that the pope would be coming to dinner after she purchased the best china available. With some Italian traditions that just wouldn't die and too many relatives that did, Annette relates stories of their lives and deaths with wit and humor.