This Boy and His Mother tells the story of the gay missionary—mentioned in Elder Holland's "Behold Thy Mother"—who returned home early after being sexually assaulted and the hope and healing he found through Jesus Christ, fostered by the faith and testimony of his tenacious mother.

This Boy and His Mother: Healing from Trauma as a Gay Latter-day Saint chronicles Preston Jenkins' journey back to faith and activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mentioned in Elder Holland's general conference talk titled "Behold Thy Mother", Preston is the "young man who entered the mission field worthily, but by his own choice, returned home early due to same-sex attraction and some trauma he experienced in that regard... [and] often the long, dark nights of the soul were faced by just this boy and his mother".

Speaking with authenticity, Preston offers gospel insights gleaned from his experiences involving same-sex attraction, sexual and emotional abuse, an early return from an LDS mission, mental illness, and the eventual completion of a mission. Hope, faith, and never-failing charity are strikingly displayed. So, too, is the sufficient grace of Jesus Christ to holistically heal all wounds. This boy "knows he owes much to many, but he knows he owes the most to two messianic figures in his life, two who bore him and carried him, labored with him and delivered him—his Savior, Jesus Christ, and his determined, redemptive, absolutely saintly mother".