As a Black student in a newly integrated high school, Talley Barbour is a perceptive yet dreamy young woman whose white friend Didi shares her passion for running. Inexperienced Talley admires Didi's apparent sophistication and worldliness to such an extent that she wildly romanticizes Didi's relationship with a pathetic white drug addict, until Talley herself gets involved in a depressing, painful relationship with a charismatic, abusive white boy. Exploring the theme of addiction on many levels, Hamilton writes in a Black teen vernacular stream of consciousness. (Age 14 and older)

When Colonel Glenn High School begins busing in white students, Talley Barbour doesn't think life will change drastically. At least she doesn't expect to become best friends with beautiful whit Didi Adair or to fall for a startlingly handsome student nicknamed "Hollywood" for his good looks and magnetic personality.