Pamela Kayes mother, Anneliese, was seventeen years old when she left Germany, the Fatherland, the only place she had ever known, in 1956. She was anxious for the chance to reinvent herself in the United States after World War II had devastated her country. In this memoir, she tells of her journey to America and how she discovered the truth about her Russian-Jewish heritage.

Broken Glass behind the China Cabinet narrates how she began her new life in the United States as a paid servant for a family in Kansas City, Missouri; how she struggled as a young immigrant girl to find her place in this new world; and how she became a citizen in 1961. She shares the story of the people who impacted her journey and how she accidentally discovered the real story about who she is.

Based on the diary of Anneliese, Broken Glass behind the China Cabinet shares a story of perseverance and communicates how one womans look into the past impacted her future.