Professor Martin Quint's marriage to Jenny has been compromised by a sexual indiscretion. Can trust, once shattered, ever be restored? In A Different Purpose, a skilled therapist guides the troubled couple into exploring past traumas amid a sudden tripling of Martin's academic load and an unnerving racial incident at his son's school. They discover that to blame is easy, but to understand, and, hence, to forgive, is not. In this, the final volume of The Martin Quint Trilogy, some questions are answered, but others arise that have no answer.