There is an electric moment for girls on the cusp of adolescence, as they leave behind the bold egoism of girlhood for the shaky self-consciousness of their teens. CUSP is a portrait of Alice, a spirited 12 year old, hitting the wall of early adolescence. Her fierce struggle to retain her sense of self, despite the onslaught of other voices, denotes the unique experience of a girl coming of age. As Alice teeters on the edge of adolescence, her connection to her mother begins to seesaw and the tensions of sixth grade social order begin to dramatically play themselves out. Alice is left as an anthropologist of her own culture, bravely attempting to understand her initiation into the world as a young woman. A provocative depiction of a girl’s struggle to form her own identity, CUSP sensitively captures the difficult journey out of girlhood and the even more painful entry into the teen years.