Samantha Ricks, a tomboy by heart, could easily change her social status in school and live out the dreams of most teenage girls of being popular and pretty. To do so, she will have to pay the ultimate price that many of the women in her family have done before her. Samantha tries to stay true to herself, but the pitfalls (poverty, negative peer pressure, abuse, and teen pregnancy) of inner-city life begin to take a stranglehold on her, which causes her to spin out of control. It may take her no nonsense grandmother, Momma Ricks, who seems to be at the root of Samantha's pain and sorrow, to keep Samantha focused on her goal of getting into college.