Selected to perform as the Queen of the Wilis in the ballet, Giselle, Dawn Hayes is determined to prove to the other dancers that she is the most worthy of a professional career in ballet. Her dance teacher has trained her up to this point to use her body as it was meant to be-to show off its lines and curves of delicate bone beneath taut skin gracefully. The unspoken essence of classical ballet was taught as a set of purposeful movements aimed at ennobling Man.

But when a new teacher enters the studio, Madame Angulaire opens up a peculiar world of modern ballet and what it preaches. Wrapped up in a sheet, Dawn finds herself rocking back and forth to the tap of her teacher's foot, trapped in movements that feel bizarre and unnatural, all the while wondering if this foreign movement could be considered ballet.

Through a series of uncomfortable pushes and pulls between teachers of varying esthetic beliefs and an unexpected friendship blossoming with an older dancer, Dawn must learn to choose which artistic interpretation of ballet is the correct one, even if it may cost her a career as a professional ballerina.