We were all used to Mom being away. I hated when Mom went away. To be horribly truthful, it wasn't that I missed her a whole lot but it was the fact my dad would take full advantage of the situation. He would sort of pay me back for all the things I had done wrong in my life. Over half the time Mom went away, she'd come back to me either in the hospital or with some injury I couldn't explain that well. Rachel Wright has never been a typical teenage girl. Since she moved from Fort Madison with her parents and five siblings, everything has turned from bad to worse. Drugs, alcohol, and gang run-ins can't make her forget her hidden, deadly past. Even if she could leave the past behind, her crazy, abusive father won't let her, and Rachel has done a good job of keeping her secrets. But Rachel and her family soon realize that they're not the only ones in town with dark secrets.