Joan Gallagher is a high school teacher who is proposed to by her boyfriend, Jake Evans,, after only six weeks. Jake is ready to commit, but Joan, confused and shocked, wants to take the relationship more slowly. Joan's friend, a music teacher at the high school, is Betsy Morgan. She's recently married Mark Ludlow, also a teacher. Joan and Betsy often turn to their mutual friend Dr. Ruby Stern, a psychiatrist, for advice. Alice Adams is Joan's friend and student teacher. Shot entirely on location in Chicago, the series focuses on the private lives of an intimate group of friends and explores the complexity and endurance of close friendships among women, as well as the challenging relationship between Joan and Jake -- two bright, independent, experienced people -- as they blunder toward intimacy.