At the age of nineteen, Cynthia married her first sweetheart, Butch, who vowed to love her unconditionally. But his dependencies and mood swings have her living in fear, and she escapes back home. The safe haven her mother provides is short-lived when her troubled brother, Victor, throws the family into chaos with his criminal activities.

Desperate to find a home for her children, Cynthia then falls into a relationship with Johnny B, a smooth-talking hustler whose sweet words and empty promises could lead her down a destructive path.

Time and again, Cynthia learns that when life pushes you down, sometimes you have to fight just to get back up. She learns there is a sweet victory about standing strong on your own two feet and that there is strength in the power of love.