A widow is torn between loyalty to her dead husband and passion for his hated rival. After a fairy-tale marriage, Paula Wincott has lost her husband, Sam, noted researcher and chemistry professor at the University of Colorado to a sudden heart attack. She attributes his death to his bitterness and despair after being displaced in the department by a younger rival, Boyd Mackenzie.
Although they have never met, Paula holds Boyd in contempt, blaming him for her widowhood. Lonely and rudderless, she signs up for a chemistry class, but when she finds herself in Boyd's class, her well-ordered world shatters as passion flares between them, overwhelming her senses and threatening her loyalty to a dead man.