Chris Wotan tells the story of his downfall to a priest at the confessional: A top athlete in high school, Chris hopes to win a football scholarship to college, which he could not otherwise afford. Although he has troubles at home with his ineffectual, alcoholic father and working mother, Chris is happy with his girl friend, Ginny. One day, he and his friends are caught by one of the coaches after hours at the school swimming pool; after arguing with the teacher Chris is put on probation. He dates the wealthy but insecure Tury in hopes that her influential father will help him to obtain a scholarship, and Ginny, believing his interest in Tury to be romantic, breaks off with him. Another disaster occurs when Tury's parents return home to find him in bed with their daughter. Chris goes for a ride with his friends in a fire truck they have bought, and he is wrongfully implicated in a raid on a drugstore and is expelled from school. Lonely and despondent, Chris takes Joan Meyers, a 14-year-old of doubtful reputation, to her special place in the church loft, intent on having sex with her, but his self-disgust is so great he rejects her. Smashing church ornaments, Chris runs from the church, only to return later for the help of the priest, who will help him remake his life.
