At the start of the academic year, Professor Osman Ozsoy emphasized the importance of reputation to his students, highlighting how easily a positive perception can be tarnished by repeated tardiness. In a candid classroom exchange, he illustrated that trust and punctuality are crucial for professional recommendations, teaching a vital lesson about maintaining one's reputation.

Troy Van always had questions about his mother’s past, partly because of Delia’s reticence about it. When she passed away two years ago, new details about her emerged from different sources that totally surprised Troy. A history teacher, he’d built his success on honesty and credibility. In the end, if contradictions in Delia’s life taught Troy a lot about himself, he also learned to accept her choices for survival in a turbulent world.