los angeles (calif.)

Joseph, an old African-American man, finds a Mexican baby abandoned in a Dumpster and raises him in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood to know both African-American and Mexican American ways.

Hoping to remake herself to find happiness, Simone Walker loses weight, develops a new image, and moves in with seven college guys who are more than happy to help her during her quest. With her wicked stepmother hiding in the wings, however, Simone finds that people aren't always what they seem and has a harder time than she imagined finding someone to love her for who she really is.

Amid premonitions of her own death, Jimena travels to the past and teams up with her old gang rival, Payasa, to try to save herself and the other goddesses from the evil Atrox and his Followers.

Serena, a moon goddess with the power to read minds, is possessed by the spirit of a woman who, in the thirteenth century, betrayed the evil Atrox and has now entangled Serena and herself in a plot to overthrow him.

As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Vanessa, a girl with the power to become invisible, worries that the other goddesses are shutting her out, fears a demon sent by the Atrox, and desires a handsome stranger.

Nineteen-year-old samurai girl Heaven Kogo decides to take chances and explore Los Angeles, even though she knows danger could be lurking anywhere.

Serena, a moon goddess who has the special gift of reading minds, is torn between joining the dark force of the evil Atrox and staying with her friends, the Daughters of the Moon.

Jimena, who has the gift of seeing the future, must call on the skills she developed as a gang member when Cassandra, a Follower of the evil Atrox, hatches a plot that may destroy the moon goddesses and those they love.

Vanessa, who has always had the special power to become invisible, discovers that she and her best friend Catty, a time-traveler, are goddesses of the moon who must fight together to overcome the evil Atrox.

Just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a Mexican American boy goes with his mother from Los Angeles to New Mexico to meet her family for the first time, and, while there, he discovers his family's hidden Jewish heritage.