Thirteen young women demonstrate if they have what it takes to make it in the high-stress world of modeling in the ninth cycle of AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL. The winner will receive a contract with Elite Model Management, a Seventeen Magazine cover and a six-page fashion spread, and a $100,000 deal with CoverGirl cosmetics. During the 13-week long competition, that takes the girls from Los Angeles to Shanghai and Beijing, the young women learn that a top model is also a role model, and a pretty girl doesn't always make a model. The contestants are challenged to scale a rock wall in gown and heels for a photo shoot, walk a runway in a straight-jacket, portray a specific emotion while being held in the air by an ice skating partner, and learning basic martial arts poses before being hoisted into the air on wires.