After spending a few months in juvenile detention for an unacceptable schoolyard incident, MICHAEL COX has been placed at a new Melbourne Technical High School for Boys. But now, for disputing the judgement of teacher MR PIPER during a physics lesson, COX has been unfairly made to attend a Saturday morning school detention with an unruly bunch of youths who would rather play with knives and wreck school property than learn to read and write. It’s exactly the sort of crowd COX needs to avoid, but as the morning detention progresses the other boys learn of a dark past that will result in devastating consequences.