Mid-1990s, New York City. Patti, Angela, Emma and Nikki are high school seniors and best friends preparing for life beyond graduation. Their dreams for the future differ greatly — Angela wants to become a poet, Emma and Nikki have are heading for college, and Patti is a young mother looking for stability in her kid's life — but the four are bright, young women are steadfastly loyal to each other in a way only teenagers know how to be. Their lives are then completely upended when, after being sexually assaulted, Nikki unexpectedly commits suicide. Grieving, angry, and forced to return to daily life without satisfying recourse for their feelings, the girls must come of age with a newfound understanding about the patriarchal world in which they live.