Jessica flies to the rescue when news reaches her that a beloved professor from her old school has been accused of murder. However, she finds herself stymied by the unpromising circumstances and Professor's Walker's refusal to recant his confession. Certain her old teacher couldn't have been responsible, Jessica digs further into the seamy history of the murdered woman, but the mystery becomes twistier the farther she goes.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Blackmail Backfire: Rhonda blackmailed several people to get her way. It eventually backfired on her when the district attorney, seeing an opportunity, killed her after her fight with Steve.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: One night after an April Fools' Dance, Rhonda caught a ride home with the fiance of a fellow student, who had had a fight with his intended, and the car crashed. Rhonda taunts the girl with the knowledge that her fiance died in Rhonda's arms and not her own.
- Get Out!: The night of the accident, the sorority mother evicts Rhonda after she taunts the bereaved girl.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: When the district attorney claims Jessica has no evidence of his involvement, Jessica points out that he mentioned Rhonda and Professor Walker having wine earlier in the evening, when the professor had put the wine glasses away before the police arrived to hide Steve's presence.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: While the two professors are off the hook for murder, the policeman in charge of the case warns them that the law might still prosecute them for assault and obstructing an investigation.
- Parting-Words Regret: A flashback to the night of the accident shows Susan sobbing on the sorority mother's shoulder, lamenting the fight she had with her fiance right before his death.
- Pun-Based Title: The title is a pun on "alma mater."
- Sextra Credit: Rhonda was a graduate student who specialized in getting good grades via any method except studying. One of the women at the college describes her as "giving tramps a bad name."
- Taking the Heat: Professor Walker stubbornly insists he committed the murder and refuses to defend himself. Jessica suspects he's covering for someone else, which turns out to be younger teacher Steve Chambers. It turns out that Steve only stunned her; one of her blackmail victims finished the job.
- Woman Scorned: Rhonda insists on prosecuting Steve for assaulting her (really striking back during a struggle), despite the DA's warnings that a trial could prove messy, just to make him suffer for rejecting her.
