A young, poor, Mulatto girl is a victim of prejudices in Skyler, North Carolina, and is mercilessly attacked and threatened. The day finally comes when Jessica Sanford leaves the hurt behind her in a search for answers. She finds a temporary career as a Vegas show-dancer, drawn in by the money. In Vegas, novelist Rachel O'Neill, from England, is a guest speaker at a writers' conference. Nearing sixty years old and three years a widow, she is piecing her life back together. New people and relationships contribute to her transition, and in the process her nurturing nature comes into play when she crosses paths with Jessica, a proud, beautiful showgirl.