Growing Up Guilty is the story of a young girl's coming of age at the onset of World War II. Susan finds it difficult to understand life with her hostile mother and passive father. It is also difficult for her to understand the social and political forces swirling around her. Her life changes when she meets Sol in high school. At his home, Susan finds a different world. Susan lives in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor but her coming of age problems are universal for all young women seeking to find themselves.