Constance Demetrios is all too familiar with the intricacies of school politics. For twenty years, she's dealt with the agonies of public education from Ohio to Oregon, Kansas to Colorado, and Los Angeles to Houston. Now that she's in Cornwall, a small, sleepy town on the east coast, Constance hopes to escape the turmoil of complicated school systems.

The first day of her new job does not begin auspiciously. She arrives to see the high school principal being rolled out on a stretcher, the victim of a heart attack. As the year progresses, Constance realizes that the Cornwall educational system is no different than any other. She must deal with the cluelessness of the school board, a petition against the high school principal, the humiliation of her favorite co-worker, and the final blow--her boss's suicide.

Constance soon feels a burning need to escape Cornwall for a better life. She ends up in the wilds of upstate New York, searching for answers about school, about life, and about her purpose. A natural detective, Constance soon discovers the forces consuming American public schools--racism, power politics, blind tradition, and unchecked ego--are slowly pushing humanity toward its own evolution.