Tuesday morning, October 27, 2010, is a typical day for many people going about their normal routine. But for some, the intersection at Reed and Stewart streets has different plans. A Ford pickup truck runs a red light at full speed and collides head-on into a midsized, two-door car. Tires squeal. Metal twists. Glass shatters. Engines explode into a fireball. And bodies are left strewn on the pavement.

Tiffany, an endearing teenager about to graduate high school, witnesses this horror, and it changes the course of her life As her friend Brianne consoles her and does what she can to...