It was late January, and 33-year-old Girlie Brown—an African and Native American woman who had never broken the law—was arrested for domestic violence.

After being booked, Girlie finds herself locked up with an inmate who is in for similar charges, the only difference is that the inmate is a middle-class White Woman. After going before the judge, the inmate tells Girlie that the judge didn’t have her go into the courtroom, that she was taken into a private room and told to “stay out of trouble”, before being released and having the charges dropped. Girlie’s confidence is raised as she has never been in trouble with the law. As she meets the same judge, smiling, the judge rips into Girlie telling her she is not fit to live in society. Girlie is confused by all of this and has been sent back to jail until she can post bail.

Girlie calls her sister, only to find out that the only one who can help her doesn’t have any money and her mother and father have washed their hands of Girlie and her situation. Girlie has to wait, alone, longing to be reunited with her 4-year-old son. Mandated by the judge to see a criminal psychologist, Girlie meets with him and finds out a woman had spoken on her behalf as a family member to the judge…

That woman, the psychologist tells her, is Mrs. Louise Flemmings. Girlie tells the psychologist that this woman is not from her family, but is the scheming mother of her abusive ex, Tyrone Flemmings, who is the father of her son. Girlie makes it clear that Louise and Tyrone would do anything to keep Girlie’s son away from her. The psychologist takes notes about all Girlie has said and explains that she won’t be able to see the judge again until Friday, which means another three days in the hellish jail.

After finally being released from jail, with a sentence of three years’ probation and 52 weeks of mandatory anger management classes, Girlie finds herself back at home and missing her baby boy. Outside, Louise is honking her horn to get Girlie’s attention. Girlie goes out and Louise says she has to stay away from Tyrone, who has gotten a restraining order against her.

Girlie’s “friend,” Leslie, who is the mother of Tyrone’s older daughters. Leslie, it turns out, is the one who told Tyrone to get the restraining order. And now, Girlie is also being blamed for a fire at Tyrone’s apartment that transpired after she got out of jail. To top it all off, if Girlie doesn’t get into an anger management class by the next day, they will haul her back to jail.

Girlie finds a class in time, with a teacher named Isabel, and if all this is not enough, she is also going through a bitter custody battle over her son with Tyrone and Louise. The custody battle and stories of abuse from the other women in the class make Girlie reflect on how painfully horrible things were with Tyrone. She thinks about all the times he strangled her, beat her, and how she had to learn to protect herself and not end up dead. Girlie realizes that she wants better for herself, for her son and commits to learning to love herself, getting a transfer to another department at her job and finally working out a reasonable custody agreement with Tyrone.

After being unexpectedly fired from teaching the class, Isabel pulls Girlie to the side, giving her the anger management certificate four weeks early. Girlie takes the certificate to the judge, who tells Girlie that she has come a long way and is very hopeful for Girlie’s future. Girlie puts the ordeal behind her and moves on with her son