When Agnes's father loses the family savings, young Agnes determines to make her own living--as a governess. Working for the Bloomfields, her enthusiasm is soon dampened by isolation and the cruelty of the children in her charge. Agnes hopes for better in her second job, but when the scheming elder daughter Rosalie makes designs on Agnes's new friend, the kind curate Mr. Weston, she feels herself silenced and sidelined. Becoming a governess is one thing, becoming invisible is quite another.