Born in the early 1900s, short, unattractive, dark-skinned Odessa Madre is valedictorian of Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. Bullied for her appearance, she trades life as the Queen of Madre's Park on a path to being a schoolteacher for being the Queen of the Washington, D.C. underworld. In no time at all Dess uses "ice" to keep things cool with "police on the take" while building an empire of brothels, drugs, alcohol, and gambling leading to her to becoming "The Female Al Capone." Her empire comes tumbling down after a competitor and former ally sets her up for arrest on a drug charge. Retaliating by trading information on Roger "Whitetop" Simkins for a reduced sentence she becomes famous when her testimony is televised. Later, her wealth is stolen and she begins selling off her property to survive. Her later years are a shadow of her fame. Lonely and penniless her friends have to scrape together funds for her burial. Was it all worth it?