Clarissa is the story of a young girl growing up in the heart of the ghetto on the south side of Chicago in the 1980s. She has taken on the responsibility of raising her two younger siblings while her mother languishes in bed, depressed about the way her on life has turned out. In the course of one short year her life is altered in an unimaginable way by tragedy. Clarissa is forced to make choices no 15-year-old should ever have to face on her own. Left with no other options, she finds herself in the home of the neighborhood drug dealer along with her young sister. It’s up to Clarissa to remain true to herself and follow the path she has always set for herself while avoiding the temptations she faces every day she steps outside her front door.
