In the social scene known as 'cap and town' in fictional Churchton, Illinois (read 'Evanston and Northwestern University') comes young instructor Bertram Cope. Blond, blue-eyed, charming and book-learned, with a patina of conversational sophistication; he is, however, not quite genuine. Impressed by wealth and well-appointed houses, Cope is too careful and self-conscious - and what he doesn't realize is that he is observed and judged as often as he observes and judges.