At the dawn of the Twentieth Century, the world is changing for women. More girls of a certain class are being educated and able to make their own living. When Claudia Thomas graduates from the newly formed Burnham College for Women, Class of 1880, she is not ready to trade the life of the mind for a husband and a house in town. She chooses to further her studies in Germany, to buy time before she meets her family's expectation of marriage and children. Her plans are interrupted when she meets Jeanette Taynor, walking in the park. Mrs. Taynor is a young widow, employed as nanny in the home of a rich businessman. Despite their differences in class and education, their lives intersect and intertwine, blossoming into a love that will not be broken.