In the 1960s, a girl from rural Nebraska arrives at a Midwestern college. At first she is lonely among her more sophisticated classmates, then everything seems to improve when she befriends a group of international students - until she resists one boy’s calculated seduction and he resorts to force. A unique story about the aftermath of sexual violence—for assailant, victim and bystander—the novel tells how one woman breaks free of doubt and guilt.