Calisto Casey's mother dies in a horrible accident and she and her sister are taken by their father to the home that he grew up in. But their father is a disturbed man and he has some very odd ideas about how to show his emotions to his children. Cali is soon subjected to a constant flow of abuse. It comes at her from all sides, her father, her grandmother and even her quiet aunt. She feels that she must stand between her abusers and her younger sister so with her chin up she faces each ordeal. Through it all her strength often wanes and when it does she turns to the ghost of her lost mother who in turn shows her a friend that will stand at her side through thick and thin. Time marches on slowly for Cali but as it does the abuse changes as well. Her father remarries and she thinks that this woman is her salvation, but nothing is further from the truth. She is taken once again to a new place, separated from her only friend and thrust into a new world of abuse where Cali must become something else if she is to survive.