As the vain and self-absorbed poets continue their campaign of destruction in Dryden Abbey, Garrick finds himself struggling in the classroom, with increasingly distracted pupils eroding all of his hard work and reducing him to using all things dead and decaying in order to keep Desmond and Lavinia's minds on their lessons.
Meanwhile, with Phillip Priestley's unexpected appearance, Desmond's world unravels as infatuation, lust, confusion, and revulsion drive him into wilder mood swings. Mr. Sherbourne's coldly distant yet attractive presence in Dryden Abbey further complicates things, prompting Desmond to do something he never thought he'd ever do: reach out to unlikely allies for help.
In the midst of the wild goings on around them, Garrick and Desmond will realize that the chasm separating them as distinct species will not only teach them important lessons of understanding and acceptance, but also forge a stronger bond of friendship than they expected.