With the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (P.L. 104-193) of 1996, also known as the Welfare-to-Work Act, Aid to Families with Dependent Children was abolished and replaced with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). A new system of block grants to states for TANF was created, changing the nature and provision of welfare benefits in America. Many have declared this legislation to be a sweeping success, although a few have called it a failure. Quantitative statistics seem to indicate unparalleled success, while qualitative analysis seems to question this widely held assumption. This study focuses attention on the realities of some recipients of the Welfare-to-Work legislation in hopes of gaining a better understanding of how this new legislation affects them, the ones with the most to gain or lose. This case study examines how welfare recipients in one welfare-to-work program in a midwestern state understand the meaning of work.