Autumn Gold, inspired by true events, celebrates the indomitable courage and wisdom embodied by young biracial lawyer Vashti Warner while facing her impending death. At age thirty-four, Vashti radiates good health. An excellent litigator in a district attorney's office, she seeks to make a difference in the lives of people who are disadvantaged or feel alienated from society. Intelligent, athletic, and highly social, she sees challenges as opportunities for growth and yearns to live life to the fullest.

Suddenly she is diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an often aggressive blood cancer. She undergoes high-risk medical treatments never parting with her humor or passion for life-and in large measure buoyed by her renewed relationship with a former boyfriend she thought she had lost forever. Here, interwoven with the unfolding of their majestic love story, are penetrating insights into Vashti's growing ability to understand her own mortality, articulate her illuminating lessons in life and loving, and bravely face death on her own terms, without ever giving up.