For Alex Carter, Alford School had been a safe haven and the world in which his character had been forged. He owed a debt of gratitude to his school and to the fine people who had befriended him when he was at his most unlovely. Ten years into his career as a boarding school teacher, Alex is called back to his old school. Much has changed and much remains the same. In a year of sunlight and shadows, Alex is challenged as a teacher and as a friend, discovering that his world has been much more complicated than he had imagined. The school acts a door to memory, bringing the boy he had been into sharper focus; his year of service promises a future he had not imagined. Friendships strengthen and possibilities for a life beyond monkish schoolmastering emerge, and at the same time, terrible events shake the school as forceful personalities contend for dominance. Caught in the middle of events beyond his control, Alex has to develop new skills quickly even as he learns that things are rarely what they seem.