A perfectly formed 60 minute film detailing the relationship between misanthropic college professor Jude (Martin Donovan, Hartley's favourite leading man) and Sofie (Mary B. Ward), a beautiful student in one of his literature classes. Sofie is the only member of his class not to be driven mad by Jude's insistence on spending hour after hour on a single passage from Dotoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov; she finds Jude's somehow tragic and is inspired to write stories about him. And yet, as their friendship becomes something more, she refuses to publicly acknowledge it, believing that others will interpret it as an attempt on her part to boost her grades.