Emerald Washington, 11, watches her often destructive family deteriorate. Desperate, she sets off to search Los Angeles for her older sister. Evading sheriffs and foster care workers, she makes her way into the inner city where she sleeps among the homeless, some caring and helpful, some dangerous. Ultimately she enters the world of human trafficking and under-age prostitution, It is her spirit, coupled with the strength of a few other caring, brave people, that allows her to persist and find unexpected resolution.