On his 17th birthday, shy and bespectacled "Georgie" LaMain (John Barrymore, Jr.), is dared by classmates to kiss a girl, which he is reluctant to do. At his father Andy's (Preston Foster) bar, beneath a sign warning "No Minors Allowed," George asks if Andy's girlfriend, Frances, will be there too, but Andy is evasive. George is presented with a birthday cake but fails to blow out all the candles. Unexpectedly, influential sports columnist Al Judge (Howard St. John), who walks with a cane, enters the bar and orders George's father to strip off his shirt and kneel. Andy passively complies, and Judge savagely beats him with his cane. Andy will not explain why he submitted to the pain and humiliation, and his bartender Flanagan (Howard Chamberlin) urges George to let the issue lie. However, as Flanagan assists Andy, George takes some of his father's clothes to look more adult, as well as his father's gun, and leaves.