Meet Tanya, Gwen, Emma, Mia, and Claire, five girls from the same hometown whose lives intersect under unforgettable circumstances. Tanya grows up with an abusive brother and a prostitute's daughter for a best friend. Gwen dreams of being a super-model but, like Tanya on the rougher side of town, must surviveviolence. Emma has a hard-working single mother who can't always protect her. Emma's best friend, Mia, loses her father to suicide. And finally, there's Claire, who escapes their small town but finds she can't escape the past.

Through these remarkable characters, Christina...

Sipping on "kiddie" cocktails, eight-year-old Catherine plays a game called "What's the Girl Worth?" with her father and the rest of the regulars at the Blue Lagoon bar. That would be Catherine's last memory of her father ... before he abandons her.

Catherine -- feisty, hard-edged, and weary of men -- has put herself through Boston University working as a cocktail waitress. Wanting to control her future rather than give in to the fate predetermined by her unresolved issues, she takes a summer internship in Madrid. It is in this glamorous city, with the encouragement of her new...