"I was born right on the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, and I often had cause to wonder if the bleak darkness of that day had seeped into my soul." Jessica Ann MacKenzie was the second of three girls born into a close, loving and staunchly Christian family. Her parents had the normal hopes, expectations and aspirations for their daughters. But in her case, Jessica's parents were bound, right from the beginning, to be disillusioned. Jessica's journey of self discovery was never going to be easy; there is a constant conflict between the expectations imposed by her upbringing and the need to be true to herself. And in the back of her mind, the dreaded L-word. "I have to learn to accept myself as I am," Jessica tells herself, but the way to that acceptance is blocked by social conventions that she has not the strength to overcome alone.