[We must first mention that there is a lot of musical performance details even into the story. If this is not one of your interests, be prepared to skip!]

The most interesting days of Helen's life were when she first moved into the village of Westfield, to teach music at a little four-year college located there.

They were interesting days for many reasons; one of them being that she was no longer a student, and was earning a real salary for the first time. Secondly, her little boy was not yet a year old, and was becoming more interesting by the minute. Thirdly, while she was already a well-known violinist, and also an actress in a Television science fiction series about life aboard a spaceship, she was beginning to earn fame as a conductor. Helen was learning to love conducting.

But her life was not to proceed linearly. She was presently dealing with several exciting situations, one of which was to sing soprano in the annual Christmas celebration in London. But the excitement was soon to turn to tragedy, as a young woman whom Helen loves is driven to attempt suicide.

The life of a college professor was a lot more exciting than Helen had expected; interacting with the kids, making friends with a famous tennis player, and lots of other excitement combined to make Helen dizzy.