| | A Few Words About This Book | p. ix |
| | Prologue: The Woman in the Photograph | p. 1 |
| | Deborah's Voice | p. 9 |
| | Life | |
| | The Exam...1951 | p. 13 |
| | Clover...1920- 1942 | p. 18 |
| | Diagnosis and Treatment...1951 | p. 27 |
| | The Birth of HeLa...1951 | p. 34 |
| | "Blackness Be Spreadin All Inside"...1951 | p. 42 |
| | "Lady's on the Phone"...1999 | p. 49 |
| | The Death and Life of Cell Culture...1951 | p. 56 |
| | "A Miserable Specimen"...1951 | p. 63 |
| | Turner Station...1999 | p. 67 |
| | The Other Side of the Tracks...1999 | p. 77 |
| | "The Devil of Pain Itself"...1951 | p. 83 |
| | Death | |
| | The Storm...1951 | p. 89 |
| | The HeLa Factory...1951-1953 | p. 93 |
| | Helen Lane...1953-1954 | p. 105 |
| | "Too Young to Remember"...1951-1965 | p. 110 |
| | "Spending Eternity in the Same Place"...1999 | p. 118 |
| | Illegal, Immoral, and Deplorable...1954-1966 | p. 127 |
| | "Strangest Hybrid"...1960-1966 | p. 137 |
| | "The Most Critical Time on This Earth Is Now"...1966-1973 | p. 144 |
| | The HeLa Bomb...1966 | p. 152 |
| | Night Doctors...2000 | p. 158 |
| | "The Fame She So Richly Deserves"...1970-1973 | p. 170 |
| | Immortality | |
| | "It's Alive"...1973-1974 | p. 179 |
| | "Least They Can Do"...1975 | p. 191 |
| | "Who Told You You Could Sell My Spleen?"...1976-1988 | p. 199 |
| | Breach of Privacy...1980-1985 | p. 207 |
| | The Secret of Immortality...1984-1995 | p. 212 |
| | After London...1996-1999 | p. 218 |
| | A Village of Henriettas...2000 | p. 232 |
| | Zakariyya...2000 | p. 241 |
| | Hela, Goddess of Death...2000-2002 | p. 250 |
| | "All That's My Mother"...2001 | p. 259 |
| | The Hospital for the Negro Insane...2001 | p. 268 |
| | The Medical Records...2001 | p. 279 |
| | Soul Cleansing...2001 | p. 286 |
| | Heavenly Bodies...2001 | p. 294 |
| | "Nothing to Be Scared About"...2001 | p. 297 |
| | The Long Road to Clover...2009 | p. 305 |
| | Where They Are Now | p. 311 |
| | Afterword | p. 315 |
| | Acknowledgments | p. 329 |
| | Notes | p. 338 |
| | Index | p. 359 |