It is the politically turbulent 1950s, in Cape Town. Phyllis's ailing mother has just passed away, leaving Phyllis without a home, and with no one to care for. With her sister's help, she applies for a position as matron at a prestigious boarding school for boys. Surrounded by restless, reckless boys on the verge of adulthood, Phyllis is reminded of her own desires and losses. She begins to write a journal again – for the first time since that dreadful day when her mother discovered what she had written, what shame she had brought upon the family when she was only sixteen ...