Noah Riley, now in his third year at Harvard, is a fine-tuned specimen with exceptional good looks and an outstanding talent both on the lacrosse field and theater stage. His popularity and celebrity on campus are unrivaled, save perhaps by Lainee Reed, a brilliant biochemist in the making who isolates herself behind her studies, stoicism and the long, haggard scar along one side of her face.                     

Lainee is always alone, head down, studying or striding forward with singular purpose across campus, while Noah is often laughing and meandering casually, surrounded by friends, teammates and admirers alike, basking in the glow of the spotlight as much as possible.

To look at the two of them it would seem they are polar opposites, but when the tutor forced upon Noah in biochemistry is none other than Lainee, they are suddenly thrown together with varying degrees of unforeseen reactions. Now face to face, both are left uncomfortably wondering if appearances aren't always what they seem.