In the autumn of 1939 young Waverley Scott arrives on remote Isadora Island in the Puget Sound. She is to be a student at Temple School -- banished, she knows, because her features too closely resemble those of hermother's married employer. Alone, abandoned, and unloved, Waverley stepsoff the rain-washed boat and into the eccentric world of Temple School. The headmistress of this all-girl school, Sophia Westervelt, has amysterious past and a passion for education. She instills achievement intoher students, confident that one day they will have "dinner with theKing of Sweden," that they will win the Nobel Prize. Sophia is animmortal teacher, and under her direction, Waverley grows as her ownabilities and vision expand. But far away in Europe, nations clash, andeven isolated Isadora Island feels the impact. Sophia Westervelt struggles to keep Temple School going, though formidableforces combine against her.

And in the midst of this turmoil, for thefirst time, Waverley experiences love -- a love so fierce and sensual that,like her education, it will shape the rest of her life.