Mary Koffman, 28, has been a blonde all her life—it's her natural hair color. She is an intelligent woman who holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry, a master's degree in biology, and a doctoral degree in forensic science. As well, after getting a job in the Dontana City Crime Lab, she went to night school and earned a law degree. Now, in addition to her job at the crime lab, she doubles as a forensic advisor for the Dontana City Prosecutor's office.

Despite Koffman's intelligence, however, she often felt that her colleagues did not take her seriously because she is a natural blonde. She was also getting tired of all the blonde jokes like:

What stops, then goes, then stops, then goes?
A blonde at a flashing redlight.

Mary decided to change her hair color to brunette so she made an appointment at her local beauty salon. Later, she arrived at the salon for her appointment. The hair stylist washed Mary's hair and then applied a coloring solution¹. After letting the solution set for a few minutes, the stylist took Mary to the rinsing sink. Unfortunately, there was no water.

Confused, the stylist called the water company. Apparently, the water company had turned off the salon's water for lack of several months of payments. The stylist insisted that she had always paid her water bill, but the water company refused to turn her water back on. The stylist told Mary that she would have to rush to her home and rinse out the solution. Mary did so, and as she was rinsing her hair, it all began to fall out. By the end of her rinse, she was left with only a few clumps of hair on her head. Apparently, the strong chemical solution had remained¹ in her hair for too long.

Mary went back to the salon. The stylist was shocked when she saw Mary. The only solution² now was to shave off the little bit of remaining² hair, leaving Mary Koffman a bald woman. Mary and the stylist are both suing the water company who had apparently applied the stylist's payments to the wrong account. In the meantime, the water company bought Mary a brunette wig.