Within the narrative, Phoenix documents her Manchester birth and upbringing, her bigamist father, Tom Manfield and realisation of her illegitimate birth, followed by her difficult relationship with her step-father, Richard Pilkington. Her struggling time in repertory theatre and her first marriage to Peter Marsh are followed by several chapters in which she tells of her huge success as Elsie Tanner, including her famous trip to Australia in 1966 with Arthur Leslie and Doris Speed. The book’s final chapters deal with meeting second husband Alan Browning and their wedding in December 1972. Yet-to-be third husband Anthony Booth gains a small mention with an anecdote from their time together on stage in the 1950s in the play A Girl Called Sadie.