In the world Adicia Éloïse Troy is from, life is more like a Grimms' fairytale than a Disney fairytale. But sometimes even the darkest, most twisted fairytale has a happy ending, even for a poor girl from the Lower East Side.
In spite of the rough life she's been born into, Adicia is buoyed by the loving bond she shares with her sisters, their one decent brother, and their friends. Though her parents expect all nine of their offspring to follow in their footsteps by remaining in the old neighborhood, dropping out of school, and working low-paying, dead-end jobs, Adicia, her sisters, and her brother Allen have higher aspirations.
Oldest sister Gemma becomes a sacrificial lamb when their parents derail her plans to go to college and force her to marry an awful much-older man, but Gemma gets the last laugh and shows her sisters they can get above their raising by escaping the old neighborhood, leaving poverty, and going to college. It's no longer just an idle pipe dream after they've seen it done within their own family. Gemma's breakaway starts a chain reaction that leaves Mr. and Mrs. Troy increasingly humiliated, angry, and helpless.
It seems like hard times are over forever when Allen makes good and moves his sisters into his new West Village apartment. However, this paradise only lasts five and a half months. Almost as soon as Mrs. Troy finishes a short prison term, she forces her daughters to move to the family's new tenement in Hell's Kitchen on Christmas Eve.
Adicia experiences many highs and lows during her seven years in Hell's Kitchen, all the while still sustained by the love of her sisters, Allen, and their friends. Among the highlights of this grim period is Adicia's chance meeting with a kind stranger who turns out to be a famous pop star. This encounter inspires a #1 hit song during the summer of '64. The lowest point of this grim period comes when Mrs. Troy manipulates Adicia into sacrificing one of the few things a poor girl has going for herself, just so Adicia can save her from returning to prison. At the close of the Sixties, the family moves back to the Lower East Side.
In January 1972, Adicia meets Ricky Carson, a young millionaire who's just moved up the street to the newly-formed East Village. They form an unlikely friendship, against the disapproval of their parents and Allen, and Ricky falls in unrequited love with Adicia. By this point, Mr. and Mrs. Troy are desperate to salvage what remains of their reputation, and plan to marry Adicia off to a man forty years her senior.
Adicia has never considered running away like her older sisters. Once she became the biggest sister left at home at age nine, Adicia's bond with her baby sister Justine got even stronger. She's passively stayed and put up with so many indignities all so she can protect Justine. But now, with the noose tightening, Adicia has little choice left, and finally acts instead of being acted upon. Her plans to run away don't go exactly as expected, though, and she's thrust into a passive role when Ricky saves her with an offer of convenience marriage. However, this seeming rags to riches happy ending has an unexpected, nightmarish twist.
Will Adicia find the strength to survive this final ordeal and emerge as a strong, confident woman, and leave her role as a little ragdoll behind forever?