Charlotte is ready to give up: she has worked for years at a Skid Row community center trying to make a difference but nothing ever changes. When she catches a young woman named Rose trying to sneak drugs into the community center bathroom Charlotte decides it is time to leave and go back to San Francisco. On her way to the bus station Charlotte once again encounters Rose now drunk and lying on the sidewalk. Unwilling to leave Rose at the mercy of the streets Charlotte agrees to help her up the stairs to a fourth floor apartment where Rose claims to be staying. With each struggling step Charlotte is forced to come to terms both with the ongoing struggle of life on Skid Row as well as her own dark past.