Divine Aphasia's poignant story is tragic and often dark, yet hope permeates the struggles of the author, Nancy Owen Nelson. The narrative traces Nelson's journey through multiple relationships in her difficult search for her identity blurred by the experience of the constant moves with her father from one Army base to another. This loving father struggles with his own demons.

Nelson marries a fourth time to a colleague after he suffered a debilitating stroke resulting in aphasia. Only following a painful divorce and her then ex-husband's suicide does she question what has motivated her to choose this challenged man. She finally comes to understand how her father's depression and alcoholism, and the pattern of movement and constant change, have shaped her life.