It's Wellesley College in 1953. Katherine (Julia Roberts) is an independent woman and an art history teacher who wants her students to care more about themselves and their studies than finding husbands. She's seen as subversive, overturning the traditional homemaker/wife roles of the 1950s, encouraging students to think for themselves and look towards life beyond marriage. Your basic feminist message film.

In a minor sub-plot, one of Katherine's friends is school nurse Amanda Armstrong (Juliet Stevenson, Bend It Like Beckham). Amanda's "companion" Josephine was a biology professor who had passed away recently. Amanda gets fired for distributing contraceptives on campus, but acknowledges that she was already hated by an administration looking for a reason to discharge her. Because of the loss of Josephine, she doesn't regret leaving.

Also features nice performances from Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles (The Business of Strangers) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (Happy Endings) as students.