Following her mother's death, thirteen-year-old American Catrine Evans is uprooted from her home in Maine and thrust into the strange world of an English boarding school. Here, she quickly discovers that the sterling schooling her father promised may be nothing but show. Moving from voice to voice, Catrine assembles a chorus to tell her story, including Aurora Dyer with her disturbing fondess for hazardous chemicals; Mr. Betts, the English teacher clinging to his better past; the mysterious Older Boy Owen Wharton; and the alluring Mr. Gilbert.