Georgie is a working-class woman who recently started a job as a secretary at a high-profile Boston law firm. She struggles with imposter syndrome in her new professional environment. Lacking a college education, she relies on her aggressive sexuality and provocative clothing to mask her insecurities. She permits her upstairs neighbor Andrew to tutor her in middle-class refinement.

Andrew is a fussy college professor of political philosophy who prefers theorizing from a safe academic distance. He acts as a self-appointed mentor to Georgie, trying to erase her South Boston accent and mold her into his ideal of a refined woman. He uses his academic superiority to mask his lack of emotional availability.

Edward is a highly paid defense attorney who makes a lucrative living defending guilty clients. He represents an extreme version of workplace misogyny, treating his female employees as disposable objects. He views sexual harassment as an over-defined and meaningless term, using his legal prowess to assert dominance over those around him.

Lydia comes from a wealthy, old-money background. Her family disapproves of Andrew's lack of wealth and academic profession. Although the men in her life describe her as emotionally cold and calculating, she is actually passionate and fiercely honest. She desperately wants genuine connection but struggles against the restrictive labels placed upon her.