In a Europe in the midst of an unemployment crisis, a student aspiring to excellence returns to the English town that is home to her highly prestigious university. Surrounded by the shadow of failure and a mother who exercises control over her in the form of money transfers from Argentina, the protagonist watches as her chance of success disappears. Her days pass by in borrowed houses and rooms, where unfamiliar furniture and objects are nothing more than evidence of other wasted lives. But, imposing strict discipline on herself, she intends to change the course of things. She is going to start studying again, and this time she is going to triumph: she will finally be the best, the perfect student. As sharp as a razor, 'Buena alumna' ('Good Student') slices precisely through the fabric of any pleasant novel based in the present to reveal a sterile environment, where only violence and self-punishment flourish.