A young and wealthy, but underdeveloped man, Tyler Holmes is appointed as a professor at a women's college outside of Boston. His lack of development can be traced back to his unsettled and disoriented childhood and teenage years when his parents constantly undermined his judgment and behavior. Through his new teaching position, however, he will eventually accrue more knowledge, and gain some self-confidence and self esteem. Twenty years of teaching makes him a master teacher; he stresses individual freedom to learn and shapes students as thinkers, not believers. He becomes a crusading professor on a mission with his students to discover what true learning involves, and this leads to intimate close relations with several students, two marriages, one abortion, and two children. He earns a reputation at the college maverick as a "trouble making" and dedicated teacher who often helps below-average students to attain new skills and superior ranking through extra attention. Tyler's main goal is to expose students to the many dimensions, or shades, of learning, and to enable them to better understand the shades of gray in human behavior, accomplishments, and motivations.