Twenty years ago, Dr. Ed Southerland founded his school upon the belief that the minds of the future were being stifled by mainstream parenting methods. In the traditional family, children lay witness to screaming, shouting, and a myriad of other behavior that hinders their intellect. If a child were removed from this atmosphere and raised in a completely controlled environment, these maladaptive reactions could be eliminated, and evolution could leap forward.
Tasha was the school's first student. Given over to the school by her father just weeks after her birth, Tasha's only exposure to emotion was through psychological study of its errors in logic. She was arguing politics by six, reading Nietzsche by eight, and was a respected essayist by fourteen.
Now a woman, Tasha leads a secluded life by reason and reason alone. Her mind, in a need to demystify the one thing she cannot comprehend, is inexplicably drawn to art. She has become a renowned art critic.
Casey is an unknown painter whose brush is ruled by his passion. Tasha stumbles over his work, and becomes fascinated by the art he creates. Casey becomes the subject of her next review.
Tasha's mother, Rebecca, estranged from her cold and unemotional daughter, files a suit for malpractice against the school, claiming its obscure methods have robbed Tasha of sound emotional health.
As Southerland fights to defend the ideology his school is founded upon, Tasha struggles to write the most difficult review of her life — while attempting to reconcile with a mother she barely knows.