Will McLean, returning to the Carolina Military Institute in Charleston, South Carolina an unknown number of years after his graduation, tells the story of his life at the Institute. In 1966, Will was an English major on a basketball scholarship, in his fourth and final year at the Institute. Will is not interested in a military career, and had only attended on account of his father, also an alumnus, whom he made a deathbed promise years ago to attend and eventually wear the ring. He is generally well liked and his professors and peers recognize him for his integrity and fairness, although he is also sarcastic and independent. Will struggles to fit in the strict military environment, but finds solace in his three roommates, who have become his closest friends: Tradd St. Croix, the son of an upper class Charlestonian family and two brawny Italian-American boys from the North, Dante "Pig" Pignetti and Mark Santoro. They all look forward to graduation, although Will's friends will head off to fight in the Vietnam War, which Will is personally against. However, Will does have some pride in the Institute, representing it in basketball. Though antiwar, he also despises the discrimination the Institute faces from civilian students of other colleges due to its military association, which he sees at away games. In a sidebar, when Will plays a game against the Virginia Military Institute, it is considered the biggest rival game, but also notes VMI was the only team all season that did not harass him and his teammates.