At eighteen, Brian Clark is ready to leave Akron Ohio and attend college at Ohio State. But when his parents are killed, he stays to raise his younger brother Tommy. Two years later, he falls in love with Pamela Carlyle. But when she becomes pregnant four years later, Brian can't put his life on hold again. He goes to school in LA, leaves Pam behind, and guilt drives him to drink and self-destruct. After he pulls himself together, he wonders if he can reclaim his family.
So begins Brian's story is Small Sacrifices. Now, in Toughest Battle, Brian has come home. It's five years later, and Brian is broke, homeless, and fighting to stay sober. But he also loves his family, and he will do anything to be worthy of them again.
Each day he fears he is too late. Tommy is now a grown man, who doesn't need or trust him anymore. Pam is engaged to another man, and fears giving her heart to Brian again. And Brian's daughter LaToya is a confused little girl who sees him as a stranger. But as Brian rebuilds his life, he tears down those walls and becomes a man they can believe in again. And to his utter joy, he believes Pam will finally let them have a new beginning.
But Pam's fiance, Greg Austin, and her scheming sister, Patricia Carlyle, are digging into Brian's past. And what they discover could destroy Brian's reunion with his family for good ...