Women are constantly pressured with the overwhelming message that achieving 'perfect beauty' is mandatory to be accepted and successful. Mercedes survived a childhood with a hateful and mentally ill mother who constantly called her an 'ugly duckling.' Now, at twenty-nine, she's a brilliant financial icon in Beverly Hills. She knew she was not beautiful, or stunning, or even close to either. She was plain, simple, and ordinary. Take this journey with Mercedes and her four friends, who live in a city that judges a woman solely by her outside, and not her inside. Will the pressure to obtain beauty become her downfall? Will Mercedes be forced to face decisions that would change her life forever? Or will reality raise its ugly head and teach her the biggest lesson of her life? 'Beauty is only skin deep '