It's the start of another school year at St. Ambrose. While the children are busy in the classroom, their mothers are learning sharper lessons. Lessons in friendship. Lessons in betrayal. Lessons in the laws of community, the transience of power ... and how to get invited to lunch. Beatrice, undisputed queen bee. Heather, desperate to belong. Georgie, desperate for a cigarette. And Rachel, watching them all, keeping her distance, but soon to discover that the line between amused observer and miserable outcast is a thin one.