In the early 1970s, Gillian Brauer, a college student in Massachusetts, falls under the spell of her English professor and his wife, becoming involved with them not only sexually but in other ways. At the same time, an arsonist is loose on campus. And years later, Gillian, on a visit to the Louvre, sees a work of art that recalls the events of those years and forces her to remember things that were better forgotten.