The book started in 1998 where Piper Kerman (narrator) was living with her boyfriend larry, and she was working as a self employed producer in New York City when one afternoon, two policemen came knocking at her door coming to arrest her for conspiracy drug charges relating back 10 years when she was in a heroin trafficking ring. At the time of her arrest, Pipers family, Larry, and his family had no idea about her illegal past. Kerman served around 11 months in the Danbury, connecticut federal correctional facility. Piper going to jail resulted in giving the readers a perspective on the inside look of the women's criminal justice system. Kerman begins the book in 1992, where she was a newly graduate from Smith College living in boston with
