Edinburgh, 1810. Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie have opened a boarding school for the daughters of respectable families. Among their pupils is Jane Cumming, the illegitimate mixed-race granddaughter of the influential Lady Cumming Gordon, who struggles to find her place in Scottish society. When Jane claims that her teachers are having a sexual relationship, her grandmother removes her and alerts other parents, and the school is ruined overnight. The two women sue Lady Cumming Gordon for libel, beginning a long legal battle that turns on questions of class, race and what the courts are willing to believe. Based on a real case that also inspired Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour, this period drama by Sophie Heldman was nominated for the Teddy Award for LGBTQ+ cinema.