Charles Durning hosts a three-part exploration of the moods, memories, and mysteries of a generation of Americans whose childhoods were shaped by the Great Depression and characters forged by World War II. One of the individuals whose stories are followed throughout the decade is Peggy Terry, who grew up in poverty in Kentucky's coal fields, found her first steady salary and new independence while working at a wartime job in a munitions factory, and went on to raise four children by herself and become active in labor and civil rights issues.