An energetic new teacher, James Leeds (William Hurt), arrives at a school for the deaf and hard of hearing in New England. Involved in his students' interests, he soon sees a troubled young deaf woman working as a janitor yelling at a cook in sign language. The woman, Sarah Norman (Marlee Matlin) is a social outcast at the school. Most of the staff have given up on her, but James begins to try to talk with her, at first with little results.