The young women at Mount Holyoke College are famed for their beauty and virtue - except for Agnes and Bertha. With their strange dresses, scholarly pursuits and intimate friendship, these two students are considered peculiar.

One autumn morning, Bertha vanishes, leaving Agnes to wander the cold university halls alone.

As a search team dredges the pond where Bertha might have drowned, an investigation into her disappearance begins. Agnes might know the truth, but she is being unhelpfully tight-lipped, inciting the suspicions of Bertha's family, the students at Mount Holyoke, and the detective hired for the case. As secrets from Bertha and Agnes's lives begin to surface, so do the competing agendas driving each person who is searching for her.

What happened to Bertha? Who would want to hurt her? And could she still be alive?