At their high school graduation in 1944, best friends Hermie, Oscy and Benjie sing a lusty goodbye to their alma mater and endure maudlin, clichéd speeches, most of which make reference to the terrifying specter of war overseas. At a celebratory party at Hermie’s house, the graduates gather in the hallway to smoke and socialize. There, studious Hermie and girl-crazy Oscy, whose parents have insisted that they attend college rather than enlist, defend their choice, although both hope to join the military after only a year or so of school. That night, the three friends meet at the local ice cream parlor, where the gentle Benjie announces that he has joined the Marines. Oscy teases him mercilessly until Benjie’s quiet determination and patriotism impress him. Over the summer months, Hermie and Oscy toil listlessly in a warehouse, lie on the beach and socialize, all the time worrying about Benjie, from whom they have not heard. Finally Benjie surprises them one day with a visit, but must leave within hours for Brighton, from where he will be dispatched overseas. Weeks later, Hermie and Oscy board the train to their college, Oscy disdainful, Hermie memorizing football game cheers. The two room together at Mrs. Gilhuly’s boardinghouse, and when classes begin, Oscy stays busy romancing coeds while Hermie attempts to join the newspaper staff. There, he witnesses the editor excoriating the writing of pretty student Julie, who demands that Hermie judge her story, erupting in anger when he deems it incompetent. Later, she corners him in the cafeteria and asks why he failed to lie about the quality of her writing, and although he calls her crazy, he is intrigued by her confidence and charm. After an evening with Oscy, who is irritable because of the sexual demands of Glenda, the bakery worker he is dating, Hermie asks out Julie. She asks him to meet her that evening, and they drive in her car to the woods, where they kiss passionately. Oscy has joined the school’s disastrous football team, and after Hermie attempts to write something positive about the team for the newspaper, Julie encourages the friends to pledge the fraternity of her choice, Phi Sigma Nu. The fraternity initiation begins soon after, with the pledges submitted to various indignities. When the imperious fraternity president orders them to tie a bell to their privates with a note reading “pull me,” however, Hermie at first refuses, but finally embraces the prank, as does Oscy, who enjoys ringing his bell in class. At a dance celebrating their induction into the fraternity, Hermie presents his bell to Julie, and later in the car, after he complains that they have never consummated their love, the two have sex for the first time. Back at the fraternity house, where the boys now room, Oscy has brought Glenda, who has confessed that she is a prostitute and has asked Oscy to procure customers for her. Just as Hermie is insisting that Oscy remove Glenda and her line long of patrons from their room, Prof. Otis, who has heard there is a woman in Oscy's room, breaks in to investigate. Hours later, Oscy, expelled and planning to enlist in the Army, bids Hermie a fond goodbye. Final exams loom, and as Hermie studies tirelessly, Julie tries to tempt him into making love instead. She details for him several methods of “cribbing,” and during his exams, a nervous Hermie notes that the entire class is using the same cheating techniques. One night soon after, Julie admits that her ex-boyfriend, a corporal, will visit for the weekend, preventing her from attending the big autumn dance with Hermie. Furious, Hermie delineates all that he has “sacrificed” for her, then breaks off the relationship. She retaliates by returning his bell, prompting Hermie to verbally attack his new roommate, the outcast Marty, who has not washed his laundry for weeks. Their fight is interrupted by a phone call from Hermie’s uncle, informing him that his father has died. At home, Hermie mourns quietly, surprised and touched when Oscy, in uniform, shows up after the funeral. Oscy admits his shame that he is stationed at Governor’s Island, a desk clerk who goes home four nights a week. Hermie, who explains that although his mother wants him to return to school, he plans to enlist, finally agrees to join Oscy for a drink. Soon the two are drunk and start a fight with a group of soldiers. Battered but happy, they begin the drive home but soon run out of gas, after which Hermie marches a nearly unconscious Oscy home. Back at his house, Hermie rails that he and his father never touched, and now he cannot remember his father’s face. Days later, Hermie takes the train back to campus and upon disembarking, sees Julie awaiting, having heard about his father. As tears fall down his cheeks, she informs him that he has garnered top grades in his exams. They climb into her car, but it is hours before they return to campus.