Cast:
Holly Hunter as Melanie Freeland
Evan Rachel Wood as Tracy Louise Freeland
Nikki Reed as Evie Zamora
Jeremy Sisto as Brady
Brady Corbet as Mason Freeland
Deborah Kara Unger as Brooke LaLaine
Kip Pardue as Luke
Sarah Clarke as Birdie
D.W. Moffett as Travis
Jenicka Carey as Astrid
Ulysses Estrada as Rafe
Sarah Cartwright as Medina
Jasmine Salim as Kayla
Tessa Ludwick as Yumi
Vanessa Anne Hudgens as Noel
Plot:
Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is a polite and helpful thirteen-year old, who pays close attention to her school work and has two close and equally well-behaved friends. However, Tracy's father rarely sees her and her well-meaning, recovering alcoholic mother, Mel (Holly Hunter), allows her own friends, including her recently rehabbed crack-addict boyfriend (Jeremy Sisto), to eat their food and stay at their home rent-free.
To cope with her family problems, Tracy cuts herself. When Tracy starts seventh-grade, she is teased for her clothing. She becomes envious of popular girls, including Evie Zamora (Nikki Reed), and to win Evie's approval, Tracy changes her clothing style. This causes Evie to notice her and invite her to come shopping, giving Tracy a fake number to call her on. When Tracy calls the fake number and gets no answer, she goes to the shopping centers anyway to find Evie and her friend. They both tease her for only bringing ten dollars, which leads Tracy to steal a wallet from a woman. She goes back to Evie and her friend to share and they instantly become friends. Soon, Evie guides Tracy down a more hedonistic path. Evie, who lives with her cousin and legal guardian, Brooke, extends her visit at Tracy's house by telling Mel stories about the abuse suffered by the hands of Brooke's boyfriend. She gains further sympathy by claiming her mother is dead. Mel finds out later on that some of Evie's stories were true and desperately wants to help her. However, after Tracy begins to constantly pick fights with Mel about her boyfriend, Mel decides to send Evie home.
Angered, Evie turns on Tracy, excluding her, spreading gossip about her, and telling the teachers about Tracy's bad behaviour as well as handing in her fake ID. When Brooke finds drugs in Evie's room, Evie tells her of all the bad things they have done, but claims they were Tracy's ideas. They proceed to search Tracy's room only to find similar contraband. Brooke and Mel, with Evie, confront Tracy. When Brooke accuses Tracy of corrupting Evie, Mel disagrees by saying that it was actually Evie who corrupted Tracy. Not persuaded, Brooke vows to move with Evie to a different town and never let her see Tracy again and reveals Tracy's self-harm habit to Mel. Mel kisses the scars and cuts from her daughter's arm, repeating how much she loves Tracy and her brother (Brady Corbet).
The penultimate scene in the film shows Tracy crying herself to sleep in Mel's arms. The final scene shows Tracy spinning on a child's roundabout (merry-go-round), screaming.
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