Lucy Gayheart is eighteen years old, a tempermental young lady, rife with charm and vitality, and a good pianist. She wanted to escape life in the little town of Haverford and went to Chicago to study music. But she was not born to be an artist, as she lacks will and discipline. This bitter awareness is like a shot, when she hears the opera singer Sebastian singing for the first time. It is an encounter that will change her future life in a fateful way.