Darcy's plans for a great summer seem to be evaporating when she finds herself traumatized over an earlier incident with Brian, and with her boyfriend in Detroit, her grandmother recently deceased, and her parents and friends all hiding secrets of their own, she does not know where to turn for help.
When his eight-year-old brother is killed in a drive-by shooting, Hispanic teenager Martin Luna is torn between his thirst for revenge and the pleas of his mother, teacher, and girlfriend for him to resist becoming a gangbanger.
Darrell Mercer, a new student at Bluford High, decides it is time to take a stand after he tires of being harassed and threatened by bully Tyray Hobbs.
Tyray Hobbs, once among the most feared students at Bluford High, loses his reputation after being humiliated by Darrell Mercer, and with a broken hand, troubled family, and no friends, decides to use a gun to get revenge.
Cindy Gibson, an African-American teenager struggling with her mother's neglect and her mother's boyfriend's emotional abuse, must find strength she did not know she had when the boy she thought would be her savior begins beating her.
Darcy's distress over her boyfriend Hakeem's move to Detroit, her grandmother's increasing frailness, and other changes in her life, leads her to make a big error in judgement when she becomes involved with the brother of a young woman who is employing Darcy as a babysitter.
High-school student Roylin Bailey tries to impress the new girl in history class, but when one of his friends disappears, he becomes caught in a web of lies and threats.
