"Sassy, streetwise Sammy is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her to act out, seeking attention from unseemly adults when what she wants most is protection. Meanwhile, in a small Eastern European village, sweet Nico is about to turn 13. As her family falls upon desperate times, her father receives an offer of money to marry her off. But when she's shuttled across the border...

Josie, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a French Quarter prostitute, is striving to escape 1950 New Orleans and enroll at prestigious Smith College when she becomes entangled in a murder investigation.