Nea and Amber are two college freshmen attending Clinton Hill University in South Carolina. The roommates come from different worlds: Nea is from Brooklyn, New York, and Amber is from a small town called Tyron, North Carolina. They build a friendship in the first semester of school but take different directions regarding love. Nea is coming off the death of her boyfriend, who was murdered before her eyes two weeks before her first day of classes. She meets Van, a wealthy white boy and talented painter who becomes enamored by her, and she becomes his muse. Nea believes it's love. However, everything isn't what it appears.

Amber is engaged to Henry, her hometown boyfriend from high school. However, when she meets Homando, an African American student at her school, she begins to doubt her relationship. Homando is intelligent, charismatic, outgoing, and different from what she's used to--but he also sells drugs to support his way through school. The two create a bond, both sexual and mental, and she falls in love with Homando and becomes engrossed in his world. But some forces are against their interracial relationship and will stop at nothing to ruin Homando's future and end their sexual tryst by any means necessary.

And then there's Tiffany, a rebellious student. Tiffany comes from a strict, religious family, and now that she is in college, her liberated, promiscuous side has come out to play. She begins a series of affairs, including one with her middle-aged professor. Tiffany juggles these three men in her life like she's in a carnival act, forgoing her family and spiritual relationships because she's having too much fun. But the same thing that makes you laugh will eventually make you cry.