At the same time, the narrator is taken with her new colleague, Vlad, who is married to fellow professor Cynthia. One day, the narrator and her adult daughter, Sid, follow John's car and see him meeting with Cynthia at the school. Believing that they're having an affair, the narrator resolves to act on her obsession with Vlad.
What the show captures so well is the price we're willing to pay to stay comfortable, especially inside relationships that feel like oxygen. The college campus, where most of the show's drama plays out, is a particular kind of pressure cooker. In a certain small world, with certain people, during a certain window of time, the need to make things work can override almost everything else.