In this beautifully photographed film based on a play by Julian Mitchell, Rupert Everett stars as Guy Bennett, a young gay man attending boarding school in 1930s England who yearns to make his way up the social ladder. His plans are waylaid, however, by the attentions of an attractive classmate, the affluent James Harcourt. The idealistic Bennett soon ascertains that forbidden love and ambition don't mix, and he must make a choice.