An investigative report into one hundred cases of violence against women; in all cases the women tried to get help from the system. It is a harrowing account of individual women's stories, their understanding of the danger they faced, their attempts to get help, the incompetence and/or indifference they met, and, in those cases where someone was willing to prosecute, their vulnerability under/within the law. It reviews 911 procedure, from how the emergency operator evaluates the call, to the police (how, or if, they collect evidence), to prosecuting attorney, to court, to sentencing. Lee Lakeman works at the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter. She has organized Take Back the Night marches, neighborhood confrontations of abusive men, and anti-violence lobbies petitioning government representatives. She is a contributor to Not For Sale: Preventing the Promotion of Prostitution.