Behind the ivy-covered walls and the selfless dedication to education of Marquette School lie the tender egos and fierce ambitions of its faculty. Very often academic policy is determined less by lofty ideals than by pure politics, and the politics can be rough. So the faculty finds when, in 1994, Adrienne Plum is appointed the new academic dean with the specific charge to bring Marquette to the forefront of education in the twenty-first century. Adrienne knows exactly what changes she wants, and she has the energy and determination to achieve them. Unfortunately, she also has no interest in collaboration, will not tolerate opposition, and refuses to waste the time in salving bruised sensitivities. It doesn't take long for the senior faculty to decide that the academic dean must go, at whatever cost. What they don't understand is that the underlying issues are about more than the dean, and that the price is murder.