<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed . Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise . (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed . Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise . (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> In 1953, Katherine Ann Watson (Julia Roberts), a 30 - year - old graduate student in the department of Art History at UCLA, takes a position teaching "History of Art" at Wellesley College, a conservative women's private liberal arts college in Massachusetts . At her first class, Katherine discovers that her students have already memorized the entire textbook and syllabus, so she uses the classes to introduce them to Modern Art and encourages discussion about topics such as what makes good art . Katherine comes to know her students and seeks to inspire them to achieve more than marriage to eligible young men . </P> <P> Betty Warren (Kirsten Dunst) is highly opinionated and outspokenly conservative . Betty doesn't understand why Katherine is not married and insists that there is a universal standard for good art . She writes editorials for the college paper, exposing campus nurse Amanda Armstrong (Juliet Stevenson) as a supplier of contraception, which results in Amanda being fired; another editorial attacks Katherine for advocating that women should seek a career instead of being wives and mothers as intended . Betty can't wait to marry Spencer (Jordan Bridges) as their parents have arranged and expects the traditional exemptions from attending class as a married woman: Katherine insists she will be marked on merit and attendance, resulting in more conflict . </P>

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