As a student at Duke University, Ellen has the desire to go to Harvard Summer School. She, however, has a few academic issues due to her unique ability to hypnotize her peers. She recalls first learning about hypnosis in high school, and making her peers bark on command. Now in college, she gets in trouble with Dean Pottle for violating the dress code, because she went to class wearing only a slip and a bra under her trench coat. In the Dean Pottle’s office, Ellen hypnotizes the dean and makes the woman believe that she is a good student worthy of a recommendation to Harvard Summer School.  Ellen then flashes back to the time she tried losing her virginity with a boy named Don. When they got in their car, Don had put his hand up Ellen’s skirt but suddenly yanked his hand out in pain. They discover that he had broken a blood vessel behind his knuckle. After the incident, Don chased after her in school, saying they have to try again. In shame and disgust, she never wants to see Don again. Luckily, her mom flew her home to Charleston and she had bought a new wig. Back at school with the new wig, no one seemed to recognize her as the “black hand girl” anymore. Ellen forgets about hypnosis and parties and studies hard on to her way into the Harvard Summer School. When she gets there, she meets the man that she ends up marrying, Nicky Sommers. They meet at a drugstore while buying their own books and fall in love after a racy night.