Explores the lives, contributions and achievements of historically famous people such as Alfred Nobel, Alexander Graham Bell, James Watt, Michael Faraday and Leonardo Da Vinci in various fields such as engineering, science and technology, communications and the arts.

Kathryn Merte (Amy Adams) is the manipulative, cold-hearted daughter of social climber Tiffany Merte-Valmont (Mimi Rogers). Tiffany has just married again, and Kathryn is not getting along well with her new stepbrother Sebastian (Robin Dunne), who is just as skilled in the venomous art of social gamesmanship as Kathryn. Together they negotiate the tricky paths of sexual and personal power at their upscale private high school.