Born into a working-class family in Chicago on December 30, 1946, Patti Smith spends her life working towards becoming an artist. From a young age, Smith finds herself drawn to art, literature, and rock and roll, and "hungered to be" (11) an artist, or, at least, "an artist's mistress" (12)—"both muse and maker" (12). After working in several factories in southern New Jersey after high school, Smith finds herself frustrated by the area's unfriendly attitude towards art. Smith embarks on a journey to New York, on her own, hoping to connect with friends from high school. There, she meets Robert Mapplethorpe, an artist her own age, with whom she develops a romantic relationship and lifelong friendship. 

Smith's poetry, visual art, and songs are all informed by her way of living. She has superstitious beliefs about the significance of objects, dates, people, and places and imbues her literary and artistic heroes with saint-like qualities. She journeys to France with the sole purpose of writing "a monograph on Arthur Rimbaud" (225). Despite this mysticism and romanticism, Smith has a rebellious nature, recalling that as a child she wondered why people don't just kick in storefront windows.