Rebecca White, a senior at the top of her class at Plains High School in 2001, is a Kansas girl going places...until the rape. She wants the rapist to pay for his crime and go to jail. Unfortunately, nothing is that simple, and she wasn't the one raped.

This is the story of how Rebecca seeks revenge for her best friend, Luke Warren, who was raped by the principal's son, Weston. While the senior class chooses corsages and boutonnières for prom, Rebecca plots revenge against Weston. She must find a way to make him pay without revealing Luke's secret. The solution she finds is chilling.

Set in a small town in the American Midwest when the terrorist attacks in New York City brought life to a standstill, Taint by Janet Kelley portrays how friendship and justice are tested when the unthinkable happens.