The day Oliver Marks is released from prison, the man who put him there is waiting for him outside. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell him. A decade earlier: Oliver is one of seven Shakespearean actors at the Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place governed by raw ambition and fierce competition.
In this isolated world of roaring fireplaces and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles on and off stage: the hero, the villain, the tyrant, the temptress, the ingenue, and the extras. But in their fourth and final year at the conservatory, friendly rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night, real violence invades the students' fantasy world.
By morning, the fourth-year students must confront their own tragedy and their most difficult acting challenge: convincing each other and the police that they are innocent.
