After Othella--the daughter of the town tramp in Shreveport, Louisiana--convinces her to give her baby away, fifteen-year-old Ruby Jean Upshaw runs away to New Orleans, where nothing can quell her simmering rage at Othella for persuading her to let her baby go.

"Willow has staged runaways ever since she was a little girl. She has everything a young person should want: a rich daddy, clothes, money, a pony and a place at a prestigious boarding school. In reality, she has everything except the thing she really wants: a father who cares enough to find her. Aged sixteen, on the eve of her father's wedding, she ruins the bride's dress and escapes through a window, determined never to return. Her missing mother...

Holden, knowing he is to be expelled from school, decides to leave early. He spends three days in New York City and tells the story of what he did and suffered there.

Fifteen-year-old Anna runs away to Los Angeles where her half-sister takes her in, but after spending days on television and movie sets, she learns LA is not the glamorous escape she imagined.