Growing up working-class Catholic in 1970s Brooklyn, Claire Joyce--the youngest sibling of three street-smart older brothers, an overwhelmed, taxi--driving father, and an alcoholic mother--relies on the stability of basketball to usher her toward maturity and success, only to find her future jeopardized by the prejudices of her time.

"Seventeen-year-old Annika Rose and her father Wes have spent the years since the death of Annika's mother in self-imposed social isolation on their farm on the edge of the woods. When a young woman named Tina moves into a house down the road, the result is a sudden explosion of feelings in both father and daughter and a fierce rivalry. At stake in the competition is not only their relationship, but the life of the vulnerable young woman at the center...