Maise O’Malley yearns for adulthood as she enters her senior year of high school in the novel Unteachable by Laura Raeder. A fling with a man she meets at a carnival leaves the two questioning if their love is real when Maise discovers the man is her teacher. Amid the dangers of being caught, the two continue the relationship. At the same time, Maise struggles against the events of her life that seem to be pushing her in the direction of becoming like her drug dealer mother.

The novel flirts just on the edge of taboo as eighteen-year-old Maise has an active sexual relationship with her film studies teacher Evan Wilke. The two met at a carnival, hooking up before he knew she was a student and she knew he was a teacher. Since Maise is of age, the relationship is legal; but, a jealous classmate who is a minor threatens to expose the relationship and claim that Evan had sex with her as well.

The student named Hiyam blackmails Maise into selling her drugs in exchange for her silence. Maise sells Hiyam drugs, both to keep her quiet and also to keep herself and her mother out of trouble with a drug lord to whom her mother owed money. As an intelligent girl, Maise uses the opportunity to film Hiyam using drugs. She confronts the girl with her drug addiction and sends a copy of the tape to the girl’s father. Maise uses the money she earns during her short stint of selling drugs to pay off her mother’s debts and arrange for her to attend a drug rehabilitation program.

Meanwhile, Maise has been befriended by Wesley Brown who has similar interests in film. Maise uses Wesley’s film knowledge to help her confront Hiyam. Most importantly, Wesley’s family becomes like a family to Maise. His mother had fallen in love with and married her teacher, a man older than herself, in a much similar situation to Maise’s. Siobhan supports Maise in her relationship, becoming almost a surrogate parent to the teen who’d never had a close relationship with her own mother.

As the book concludes, Evan surprises Maise by appearing next to her on the plane as she prepares to fly to California for college. His decision to travel to California indicates he is serious about their relationship. Additionally, Maise had received a ten thousand dollar check as a thank you from Hiyam's father for alerting him so discreetly of his daughter’s drug use.