The book begins as an
autobiography. Couillard was born in the late-1960s in the Montreal district of
Ville-Émard; she then moved to the suburb of
Lorraine when she was four. Her parents often fought as her mother believed that her husband was unfaithful; the family incurred financial problems when Couillard's father changed careers. At age 12, Couillard was diagnosed with epilepsy. At age 17, she bought several properties with a boyfriend. They lived together briefly before breaking up and selling the properties. Couillard became a friend, then lover, of Gilles Giguère, a money lender who was associated with the controversial motorcycle club
Hells Angels. In 1996, after the police raided Giguère's apartment and (according to Couillard) threatened him, Giguère became sullen and withdrawn: the police had charged him with conspiracy to commit murder. But two months later, they let the charge drop. Giguère was soon murdered. In 1997, Couillard met Stéphane Sirois, a reputed "enforcer", drug dealer and member of the
Rockers, a Hells Angels affiliate club. They married. However, financial problems interfered with their relationship and Couillard cheated on Sirois with a man named Bruno. During their divorce, Sirois became an informant for the police and entered a
witness protection program. Couillard became pregnant with Bruno's child, and had an abortion; they subsequently separated. Following further personal, financial problems, Couillard declared bankruptcy in 2002. She then began an affair with a married man who abandoned her while they visited
Venice, Italy. along with an auto-leasing business. She began to date Bernard Coté, an aide to federal
Minister of Public Works,
Michael Fortier. Couillard then introduced Coté to Philippe Morin of the Kevlar Group, a real estate company which signed a deal with the federal government to acquire land from Kevlar. She also pointed to Morin, René Bellerive, and
Éric Boyko, who set up a meeting with Bernier as a way to push a deal with the federal government and Kevlar. In her book, Couillard accused Bernier of being intellectually lazy, preoccupied with his appearance, and concerned that he appears gay. She writes that Bernier privately criticised Prime Minister
Stephen Harper's eating habits, his physique, whispered negative comments to Couillard about members of his
electoral district and that he did not own a laptop, frequently using her house and home computer as a second office . She adds that Bernier thought about making a leadership run after hearing rumours that the Prime Minister wasn't going to stay long and that Bernier opposed
the invasion of Iraq contrary to his party's stance and had issues with the
Afghanistan War. During his time as Industry Minister, she revealed that a loyal staffer to Bernier had disrespected the authority of the
PMO, who wanted him to be removed. Couillard also mentions that she never talked to Bernier about the Kevlar deal, but that Bernier used his position in the
Treasury Board to prevent the deal from happening over concerns of
conflict of interests. Couillard goes on to describe the NATO incident and the ensuing media coverage from her perspective.{{cite journal ==Publication and reception==