 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.