Moral Compass

Saint Ambrose Prep, a Massachusetts boarding school, is where wealthy families send their children for an education taught by Ivy League graduates, with alumni who go on to become lawyers, politicians, filmmakers and chief executives. For most of its history it admitted only boys. This year, for the first time, it has taken in one hundred and forty girls. Privilege is everywhere on campus, but not every student is comfortable in it. Some are carrying the damage of their parents' bitter divorces, or struggling with loneliness and self-doubt, and in a place this charged, a small spark can spread fast. The night after the school's annual Halloween event, one student ends up in the hospital with dangerously high levels of alcohol in her blood. Parents, teachers, classmates, police and reporters all want to know what really happened to her. The only people who can say are the few students who were with her when she was attacked, and they have sworn to protect one another's secrets. As the facts of that evening slowly come out, the consequences spread well beyond the students involved. Families with money and influence bring in lawyers, while families with less can only look on. Marriages come under strain, and futures that seemed settled are suddenly uncertain. Nobody connected to the school is left untouched. Steel tells the story from many points of view, following the people caught up in the aftermath of one drunken night. Each of them eventually faces a choice between honesty and lies, and between the easy path and the right one. What they decide will shape the people they become.