VALEDICTORY is set at a university in New York in the 1980s during a student takeover that shuts down the campus for three weeks. Earl Castle is an ambitious senior trying to secure the prize of valedictorian. Brilliant and aloof, he cannot, however, stay completely above the turmoils roiling the university. Due to his affection for Calvin Reynolds, one of the student activists, Earl becomes an unwitting participant in the takeover, risking everything he has striven to achieve, and forcing him to choose between the nobility of his feelings for Calvin and his desire for the award he so dearly covets.

When Jonah Aaron graduated from Nashvilles Academic Magnet High School, he was voted the most interesting member of the class of 1997. His classmates predicted that he would become a CIA operative and that he would be bringing the best-looking woman in the room to the tenth-year reunion. Twelve years later, Jonah is married to screenwriter Elana Grey, once known as the hottest young redhead in country music. But instead of the CIA, Jonah has become a partner in Brandenburg and Aaron Entertainment and a producer of television shows and independent films. Jonah skipped the tenth-year reunion and never even bothered to investigate when the valedictorian of his senior class was murdered shortly after graduation. But now, Jonah has two reasons to investigate the crime: he feels sorry for the victims brother and he thinks that the investigation may lead to a script for the highly rated comedic-drama police procedural, which is a cornerstone of his production company.