A homebody much more inclined to write about the rough realities of her North Philadelphia neighborhood than to participate in them, Shalisa finds herself struggling to overcome the mounting obstacles that stand between her and college. While helping to raise her three younger sisters, she is faced with the prospect of having a child of her own. Barely engaged in her high school classrooms, Shalisa is running out of time to pass her classes and earn the high school diploma that her mother never received. As she shares her remarkable insights on life as a young African-American woman, Shalisa must find a way to balance the competing pressures of preparing for her future and helping to hold together the family that she loves.