While attending Tremont High School, Theresa Mallory is attacked by a fellow student- a bad girl named Lola with a rusty box cutter. Caught off guard, Theresa was slashed in the face with it. As blood gushed from her wounds, none of the bystanders did a thing to stop Lola, until Tina Pettiiford appeared and halted the attack.
The wounds left Theresa mentally scarred and disfigured. Only Tina seemed to be un-phased by Theresa's face, so the two became best friends. Each bore her own scars. As a result of Tina being jockeyed from one foster home to another, her adult life remained unstable as she jumped from one bad relationship to another. On the other hand, after spending a great deal of time in her own created wonderland to recuperate, life improved for Theresa. Over time, she was able to return to the real world, where she attended college, met Joe, then married and started a family with him.
Well into their forties, no one understood Theresa's unending loyalty to Tina, and Theresa didn't care. Tina saved her life and did what no one else would, so she would be a good friend and come to her rescue whenever she needed her to! Unfortunately, it never occurred to Theresa that their friendship wasn't going both ways, because while she was being a great friend to Tina, Tina was setting her up to ruin her life, making her wish Lola would've finished what she started years ago...