The Beauty in the Beast

Why does everyone across the university campus call the Medieval Literature lecturer, Dr. Alec Knight, a brute and a beast, when Holly Day insists there has to be a better man hidden deep within him? Is there really a concealed beauty in the beast or is Alec just as terrible as the rest of the world believes him to be? One snowy day, out on a cold stone wall at the center of the university when everyone else has left for the Christmas break, Holly finds out the truth, after which neither she nor Alec will ever be the same again.