Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway is an NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 made-for-television movie

Television movie

A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

. It premiered on September 27, 1976. The movie is about a 15-year-old girl named Dawn Wetherby (Eve Plumb

Eve Plumb

Eve Aline Plumb is an American actress and painter. She is best known for her portrayal of Jan Brady in the iconic television sitcom The Brady Bunch.-Early career:...

) who runs away from home to Hollywood, California and becomes a prostitute

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

 to support herself. Dawn finds herself taken under the wing of a tough-talking pimp

Pimp

A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...

 named Swan. The film's soundtrack features the song "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways

The Runaways

The Runaways were an American all-girl rock band that recorded and performed in the second half of the 1970s. The band released four studio albums and one live set during its run. Among its best known songs: "Cherry Bomb", "Queens of Noise", "Neon Angels On the Road to Ruin", "California Paradise"...

.

A sequel, Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn

Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn

Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn was a NBC made-for-television movie, that was first telecast on May 16, 1977, and was directed by John Erman. It was a sequel to Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, which came out the prior year,...

(1977), focuses on Dawn's friend and fellow runaway, Alexander Duncan (Leigh McCloskey

Leigh McCloskey

Leigh Joseph McCloskey is an American film and television actor.-Career:McCloskey was classically trained as an actor at the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center, New York. As an actor, he is perhaps most widely known for his role as Mitch Cooper on the CBS soap opera Dallas...

). Plumb reprised her role as Dawn for the film.