Rita, a working-class young woman in a large, unnamed northern English city, has decided to change her life by becoming educated. She enrolls in a literature course offered by the Open University, and is assigned to Frank, a middle-aged professor and lapsed poet, as her tutor.
Frank is a tutor of English in his fifties whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in his books. Enter Rita, a forthright hairdresser who is eager to learn. After weeks of cajoling, Rita slowly wins over the very hesitant Frank with her innate insight and refusal to accept no