Ida B.

VISIT THE IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT TOWER, a subsided apartment building in Harlem that tenants consider both a sanctuary from the outside world, and prison from which they hope to someday break free. 25-year-old Brenda Carver is a welfare mother of four who longs to be a writer; Rosa Rivera is an aspiring actress who will let nothing stand in the way of her career; Sharif Goldsby is a homosexual political activist determined to change the world, starting with the Ida B. There's also Miss Jackie, the middle-aged back-stabbing gossip; Vincent, the former bank robber turned scam artist; Mrs. Harris, the elderly neighborhood fence; and high-school honor student, Ricky -- who aspires to be one of the scramblers on the corner, hawking crack to passers-by. When one of the residents kills herself and two of her children, the tenants rally together and vow to take care of remaining child. But that's the just the beginning of the tragedy that the residents of Ida B. will have to deal with. A shocking crime occurs in the building and everyone becomes suspect -- and with accusations flying, the tight community of Ida B. begins to collapse.