In 1969, a week before her fifteenth birthday, rebellious and incorrigible Pinky runs away from her northern Virginia home. Meeting up with a band of free spirits, she quickly finds herself in California and a heap of trouble. Not that Pinky hasn't been in trouble before-she's been numbing her pain with pot, alcohol, and self-mutilation for some time.

Born while her parents were still teenagers themselves, Pinky moved from one home to another over the course of her short life, leaving her emotionally distant and guarded. Ask her, and she'll tell you she lost all hope long ago,...