Set in the quaint college town of Athens, Georgia, in the year 2000, social recluse, Ann Fitzgerald, develops a crush on her favorite professor, Dr. Fagan. Weeks away from graduating, she fears she'll never get the opportunity to test the boundaries of their affectionate student/teacher relationship. Meanwhile, the only thing that stands between her and a diploma, is the dark and troubled Professor Schwartz, who wants nothing more than to see Ann fail. He issues a final class assignment that forces her to address her detachment within her nuclear family as well as delve into the mass dysfunction that exists in her large extended circle. As Annie researches for the paper, unexpected tragedy befalls her family and the most unlikely love enters her life. To find her center, she retreats to Emerson's Place, an abandoned hotel in the foothills of Alabama where she spent summers as a child. There, she finds the strength to begin her life anew as she learns to let go.