Giving it his all, Gordon Sterling struggles to face the challenges and meet the demands for entry into the privileged world of academia. But graduate school is nothing like what he expected; it's a charade. Day to day, Sterling discovers more pretense and tyranny lying beneath the facade of the hallowed halls, where he is shocked to find the reason for the mysterious death of a fellow student. Sick with despair and disillusionment, he bolts from academia, but remains unfulfilled, tormented by nagging doubts about having left his true calling behind. Just as he is devastated by personal betrayal, Sterling seizes an unexpected opportunity to join SCA Institute, this time on the other side of the lectern as Professor of Psychology. He is not prepared for what awaits him. In fierce conflict with tenured Professor Beatrice Sinclair's power-driven world of academic grants and contracts - a world in which big time research money is everything and students hardly matter - Sterling finds himself entrenched in a battle for career survival against the threatening political machinations of a cartel-like buddy system of academic, government, and military officials. With pitifully insufficient experience in this manipulative world, Sterling fights for survival as his avowed antagonists reach ruthlessly into the upper echelons of the university's power structure to destroy him and to bury his ideals.