The Face Lift is a story of a date rape case in an Ivy League university that has a shattering effect on all that are touched by it. Emily Edelman, the daughter of an actress and a cosmetic surgeon, attends a closing night party of a play with a former cast member, George Eagleton. At the end of the evening, very drunk, she falls asleep, and George has sex with her. She claims to have been raped. George claims the sex was consensual. Because of a university rule that inebriated women cannot give consent, George is expelled from the university, and is later indicted as a sex offender. The incident leaves a lot of ruined lives in its wake.