A look at a group of girl friends coming-of-age during their senior year of high school in urban America. Nikki and Emma have a heart to heart talk one evening about how much they'll miss each other at college next year, but the next day, Nikki doesn't show up at school: she's committed suicide. The friends steal Nikki's journal and discover that she'd been raped. The rest of the movie shows our heroines growing closer in the wake of Nikki's death and the relevation of her secret (Emma reveals that she's also been raped), taking revenge on the men who oppress them, and trying to grow up and move on with their lives. Emma has to deal with a shallow boyfriend, Angela with an overbearing mother, and Patti is trying to finish high school while trying to raise a child and avoid the child's loser father.
—Martin Lewison <lewison+@pitt.edu>