Based on a true story, a story about medical ethics, wonders, and arrogance. Skloot lays out a multi-layered story in a way that is easy to digest and one that is thought provoking. Without Henrietta Lacks' knowledge, doctors treating her at Johns Hopkins took tissue samples from her cervix for research. They spawned the first viable, indeed miraculously productive, cell line—known as HeLa. These cells have aided in medical discoveries from the polio vaccine to AIDS treatments.