In Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father, and at home she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is chaotic and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and a secret – she can't read.

A suburban misanthrope proves he is special by confronting the most popular man on the local Community College campus.

Isabel Moreno crosses the border into the United States, thinking only of making enough money to save her deathly ill mother. In Philadelphia, she finds comfort in her cousin Martin and is embraced by his neighbors, Gloria and Maurice. She is surprised to find a new family far from home, but even more surprised to fall in love with the one man that could put her right back where she started, Christopher Fox, an immigration agent. Faced with an ultimatum, Isabel is forced to question her loyalties and choose between her freedom and the love of her life.