The question of where "women returners" to education are returning from was examined through an exploration of the life histories of 18 women in southern England. The study focused on the biographies of women who regarded themselves as primarily responsible for the care of others and yet whose aspirations involved some form of continuing education. Each woman participated in three 1-hour interviews, with each interview focusing on a different topic--work, education, or domestic life. The narrative of one of the women was used to illustrate some recurrent themes in the interviews and to help adult educators understand how the identities of many women are constructed through multiple, changing, and often contradictory discourses of work, education, and domestic life. Themes appearing in the narrative profiled include the following: fear of unemployment and a desire to achieve vocational goals as big motivations for learning; the pressures faced by the narrator as she attempted to balance others' expectations that she bear primary responsibility for her family's domestic life against her desire to pursue additional education and a better job; her resentment toward her husband for his lack of domestic support; and her regret for her parents' limited aspirations and her lack of academic opportunities at school. (Contains 16 references.) (MN)