These teenage parents are black, white and Hispanic; city dwellers and residents or small towns. From conversations with these teenagers Dr Coles weaves a subtle yet dramatic narrative that reveals the aspirations and apprehensions of these youngest parents" whose prospects aren't very promising and whose assumptions aren't always those he, or we, share.

Young mothers don't have an easy time ahead of them but many pregnant teens believe that the babies they carry will lead lives very different from their own, that their babies may find the success that eludes them and may escape the limitations they've suffered Dr. Coles finds that the fathers' confusion and, sometimes, resentment give way to a deep longing for respect and a desire for a way out of lives limited by poverty and poor education.