As the story opens, Gloria is beaten and raped by Dale. What begins as a police procedural about the violation and brutal assault on a 14-year-old girl turns into a psychological study of this girl and the women who support her. The first generation of her Mexican family born in the US, Gloria feels displaced, growing up without a sense of roots or heritage, a stranger in a strange land without the comforts of her family. Her relationship with her mother is confrontational at best, volatile at worst. Gloria lacks the security of identity. She resists school, distrusts kids her own age, and rages against any implication of rules. She swears and is constantly mouthing off. She flips people off. She skips school. She smokes. Her favorite song is Patti Smith’s “Horses” with the refrain, “Jesus died for somebody’s sin, but not mine. My sins only belong to me” (6). She is hanging out at the Sonic on Valentine’s Day night after another fight with her mother. She wants to rebel but isn’t sure what or whom to rebel against. She gets into Dale’s pickup truck for no particular reason, having “nothing to lose, everything to gain” (7).