When Reed Gallagher, dean of Journalism at Lanholme College, is found dead of asphyxiation in an apparent attempt at autoerotic suffocation, Joanne Kilbourn is pulled into the murky world of kinky sex, academic competitiveness and ruthless ambition.

14 year old Allison has to go to a horse farm. With all the horses and the help of the owner Susan Hadley she finds new sense in her life.