An academically gifted teen, her model-beautiful older sister and their newly single mother leave small town New Mexico in search of a new life in New York City. After their father runs off with his teenage mistress, SOPHIE and KAREN KERR decide their family needs a fresh start. They convince their mother, LYNN, that the big city holds promise for all of them. Sophie has gotten a scholarship to a prestigious Manhattan private school, Karen can pursue her dreams of modeling, and Lynn can leave the painful memories of her failed marriage behind her, while reviving the ambitions of becoming a fashion designer she put on hold to raise a family. The Kerr women arrive in New York ready to build a new life, as they try their hand at making it in this rarified place that promises as many challenges as it does possibilities. Manhattan. Global big shots, CEOs, diplomats, and the self-important social elite all make their homes there, and they send their precious children to the Brighton school....

Always one step ahead of the Feds, Paul Boxer is the most inventive and principled smuggler in the trade, and has never needed to carry a gun. When violent mid-level traffickers coerce him into designing a foolproof plan to bring several kilos of cocaine across the México border, he maneuvers to rid himself of their hold over him once and for all. But when a sharp-witted woman from his past enlists his help to escape this rival outfit, Paul must confront the man that is hunting him down, and choose between his livelihood as a smuggler and his integrity as a man.

The paths of several eccentric and troubled strangers cross one night.