Vera Lundy is an aspiring crime writer and master of self-deprecation who hasn't recovered from the scars of adolescence. When she agrees to fill in for a private school English teacher, teaching The Catcher in the Rye to privileged girls, Vera feels in over her head. The students are on edge, too, due to the recent murder of a local girl close to their age. Enter Jensen Willard. At 15 she's already a gifted writer but also self-destructive and eerily reminiscent of Vera's younger self. As the two outcasts forge a bond, a sense of menance enfolds the school and Vera is sucked into danger.