The woman on the bed was barely out of her teens. She wasn't exactly beautiful, but she'd tried to make the most of her looks. And now, alone in a seedy beachfront motel, she was dead.

"Sassy, streetwise Sammy is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her to act out, seeking attention from unseemly adults when what she wants most is protection. Meanwhile, in a small Eastern European village, sweet Nico is about to turn 13. As her family falls upon desperate times, her father receives an offer of money to marry her off. But when she's shuttled across the border...

Once minutos is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer..." A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome...