Jen never understood why her father despised her, but she spent years bearing the brunt of his contempt-and his fists. Years of abuse come to a head one terrible night, after which Jen bolts from her midwestern town, escaping to the coast.

There, Jen finds shelter with her childhood friend Rachelle, Rachelle's boyfriend, and their roommate, Derek, until events cause her to spiral into a self-destructive pattern of drugs and partying.

Jen claws her way back to sobriety only to experience betrayal, physical and emotional pain, and a crisis that pulls her back into her family's world. She seems destined to live life in despair, but then what seems to be yet another tragedy offers her salvation in the form of an infant desperately in need of a mother.

Determined to start again and make a better life for the child she now cares for, Jen struggles to improve her life. A romance with an older man provides a contented state she's never felt before.

Jen's life finally seems to be on the right track when a figure from her past reappears. Now she must choose between her heart and her head-and risk everything in the process.