A prestigious liberal arts junior college with a core curriculum in secretarial/business skills finds it can no longer afford its reputation when enrollment begins to drop and the school begins to accept any student who walks in. Values and standards erode, unethical admissions practices abound, and Oliver Dunbar, the Quaker school director and 20-year advocate for education, can't figure a way to fight what is happening. Then one night he has an unexpected encounter with a struggling student, and finds inspiration in the form of an unexpected new love.