A young female teacher, Mary Kendall, is in her first teaching post in a remote boy's boarding school on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. Mary and Chad Elson, a young male teacher, develop a close friendship throughout the year. One pupil, Michael Moorcroft, has a tragic past; his mother having been murdered when he was a child. Throughout the year Mary becomes obsessed with Michael whose strange behaviour deteriorates as the year progresses. The final term culminates in a stabbing at the school and the truth comes out about the murder of Michael's mother years ago.