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Teachers Karen Wright and Martha Dobie establish a girls' boarding school, finding success and a shared affection for local doctor Joe Cardin. Their idyllic life shatters when a spiteful student, Mary Tilford, concocts a scandalous lie about an affair between Martha and Joe. The rumor spreads, destroying their school and reputations. Though they sue for libel, they lose the case. The truth is eventually revealed, but not before their lives are irrevocably ruined.