The Facts of Life

The pressures of adolescence become painfully clear to Tootie when older girls Blair, Natalie, and Jo exclude her from their revelry and begin to treat her like a little kid.

The ugliness of sexual violation rocks the Eastland School when "unlikely" target Natalie is assaulted on her way home from a campus party.

Blair is forced to re-examine her friend's "perfect" life when the ex-Eastland student-turned teenage wife and mother stops by for a visit.

Blair's unique kinship with her mother Monica is shattered when Blair inadvertently learns that her mother has a lump in her breast.

Jo painfully learns the ropes of journalism when her enthusiasm for writing a "hot" news story turns into an opportunity for revenge against her journalism teacher.

An unexpected financial disaster befalls Mrs. Garrett and she finds herself on the brink of an emotional breakdown when the girls prove totally insensitive to her personal crisis.