Ruby Cathy is 18, beautiful, and desperately lonely. Transplanted from her warm, sunny home in the West Indies to crowded, urban Harlem, she is forced to live under her father's stern, unyielding rule after her mother's death, Ruby feels left without friends, without comfort and without love. Then she meets Daphne Duprey, who is cool, calm, cultured, sophisticated and refined - everything Ruby is not. Together, Ruby and Daphne build a relationship that gives each young woman a new understanding of strength, friendship and love.