A Canadian prairie girl and a free-spirited painter, Joni Mitchell never wanted to be a pop star. Yet this self taught musician became a phenomenal songwriter and bandleader, releasing challenging and revealing albums and hits like "Big Yellow Taxi," "Both Sides, Now," and "A Case of You." Through dozens of interviews, cultural critic David Yaffe listened closely to Mitchell—as well as to childhood friends and admirers like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Prince—to create this brilliant portrait. Along with tracing the threads of her musical inspirations, he follows Mitchell through her youth in Saskatchewan and her bout with polio, her early marriage, the child she gave up for adoption, and the love affairs that inspired some of her greatest songs.