In the 1930s, upper-class Tommy Judd and Guy Bennett are both nearing the end of their careers at their public school. Tommy, a Marxist intellectual, refuses to participate in the school's social hierarchy. But Guy, when not mooning after pretty boys, angles for a slot as one of the "gods," or prefects, of his house. When faculty stumbles upon a homosexual act by two students, one boy commits suicide and scandal erupts. The administration do their best to ensure nothing like this ever sullies their reputation again. Considering that homosexual experimentation is rampant and that Guy has slept with most of the prefects in his house, the strict new rules leave a bad taste in his mouth. They also put a damper on his lifestyle, especially after he falls in love with James, a dreamy boy from one of the other houses. Things come to a head when autocratic prefect Fowler intercepts a letter from Guy to James and sentences Guy to a savage beating. Eventually, Guy's complicity in the power games of the British class system has been challenged.