When a popular high school principal was reassigned under difficult circumstances, the school's culture was torn apart. A narrative of how this happened and how the principal's successor was able to heal the rift is provided in this report. The paper provides details of the actions that led up to the board reassigning the principal and the outcry that followed. The narrative discusses how the school was divided; how many parents, faculty, and students demanded a recall of the board members who voted to reassign the principal; and how a culture of suspicion arose during these tense times. The narrative details the hiring of the new principal, the application process, characteristics of a high school principal, the work a new principal would have to do to unite the school, the strategies used to select a principal, the ways to recognize a "healer," and the ways the new principal united the school. The paper then offers an analysis of the situation, asking why the school community had developed such a devotion to the original principal and how the new principal, by allowing herself to be defined by the school, was able to unite the school's stakeholders. (RJM)