The War of Unification ended centuries ago, but inside the head of Charlotte Gordon, the battle rages daily.

Charlotte left home at age 12 in a desperate bid to escape horrifying abuse at the hands of her mother and her mother's "gentlemen." She has spent the decades since fighting merely to survive. The instability of abiding between institutions and the street has left Charlotte with poor coping skills at best, and every time she tries to rise above her circumstances, she is invariably knocked to the ground by her own tortured mind.

When a friend offers her the opportunity...