Anne Tyler's retelling of the Shakespeare play "The taming of the shrew." Kate Battista runs the house for her father and younger sister Bunny; her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don't always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner. When her father's lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported just as they are on the verge of a breakthrough, Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that relys on Kate to help him. Will she be able to resist the two men's touchingly ludicrous campaign to bring her around?