Schoolteacher Barbara Covett has led a solitary life until Sheba Hart, the new art teacher at St. George´s, befriends her. But even as their relationship develops, so too does another: Sheba has begun an illicit affair with an underage male student. When the scandal turns into a media circus, Barbara decides to write an account in her friend´s defense--and ends up revealing not only Sheba´s secrets, but also her own.