[2] Dawn Cottrell (Kimberlee Peterson) is an artistically gifted teenager who is bullied by the popular clique in school and unable to assert any control over her life at home.

Dawn's emotionally distant father, Russell (Robert Wisden), pressures her to do well in school in order to earn a scholarship, as he can't afford to send her to college.

Her self-centered mother, Joyce (Sean Young), is dissatisfied both with her husband's passivity and lack of attention and the disrespect Dawn's younger brother shows her.

Using math problems as an excuse to get advice from her father about Craig's lack of communication, Russell is unable to handle any sort of emotional intimacy.

Realizing there is no alternative for Dawn, her parents agree to allow her to begin counselling with Dr. Parella, who addresses her inability to express emotional pain through verbal channels.

Joyce, despairing that Dawn will cut too deep one day, shares with her that when she was a child, her younger sister was hit by a car while in her care.

Dawn, feeling abandoned by the only person she has left, finally confronts Joyce and tells her she always makes every situation about her own well-being, and yells at her to leave.