Chapter 1
Introduces the subject of age and suffering. It reports on the literature from several disciplines regarding suffering.

Chapter 2
Introduces cases to illustrate suffering as a form of cultural communication that is spoken through the body, through identity, and through narrative.

Chapter 3
Explores how gender shapes informants' experience of suffering, the way suffering is expressed, and discussion about it in the process of the interview.

Chapter 4
Acknowledges that embodied pain is a significant component in the experience of suffering in later life.

Chapter 5
Explores social suffering because even private, individual experiences of suffering occur in a social milieu.

Chapter 6
Uses cases to examine the uniqueness with which each informant coped with suffering.

Chapter 7
Discusses the morality imputed to the experience of suffering. In part, this morality is revealed through the causes respondents attribute to their suffering.

Chapter 8
Examines three often-used metaphors for suffering. They are: suffering as a threat or attack, suffering as injustice, and suffering as loss.

Chapter 9
Talks about the activity of suffering. Activities give compensatory meaning to an elder's life. An important activity of suffering is to tell an engaged listener a story about it.

Chapter 10
Is the conclusion of the book. It asks the question: Who is the self that suffers?