Roxy Reid begins life as the abused child of a drug-addict mother. She grows up in an environment of poverty and viciousness, groomed by a rising gang leader. She witnesses the murder of her own child's father, a married man more than twice her age. Heavily pregnant, she escapes to New York to give her unborn child a fresh start. She re-invents herself as a successful professional, a dedicated mother.
Years pass. She's built a safe, sheltered arbor of respectability for her daughter Taylor and herself in the rarified world of Wall Street banking. She's content with her life of frenetic work combined with the trials of single parenting a precocious adolescent. But then a chance meeting sets in motion a series of events that bring her face to face with her former life. Driven by her inner demons, she cannot resist responding using the vicious life skills of her youth. She finds herself chained to the past she has tried so hard to escape.
As Roxy is sucked into an escalating vortex of violence, she tries desperately to protect her daughter, whom she cherishes above all else. She's even willing to cut all ties with Taylor if only she can keep her cloistered in the world of respectability.