Brad Land, Ben Schnetzer, returns to campus haunted by a brutal assault from the summer, determined to rebuild a sense of normalcy and keep his life on track. His brother Brett, Nick Jonas, is already a fixture on the rowdy campus scene, deeply involved with a fraternity that promises protection, prestige, and a tight bond of lifelong friends. Brad longs to belong, but Brett’s cautious stance sparks tension, hinting that the brotherly alliance might crack under the weight of what they’re asked to endure.
As rush week bleeds into hell week, the hazing intensifies into ritualized ordeals that test every pledge’s resolve. The newcomers are hauled to an off-campus wooded site and told to drink large quantities of beer; those who falter are forced into a brutal, dehumanizing test—sodomy and killing a goat. The rite is supposed to prove loyalty and manhood, and after they endure, they’re told the hazing is over. The crossing ceremony becomes a flashpoint: Brad is furious when Brett doesn’t show up, and their confrontation is sharp enough to threaten violence. Brett’s harder-on-the-inside stance—his claim that Brad doesn’t belong in the fraternity—drives a wedge between the brothers.
Tragedy then strikes when Will, Brad’s pledge brother, collapses during a track workout, dying of a heart attack. The freshman’s bruised body and the violent toll of hazing cast a pall over campus life and set off alarms about what’s happening behind the frat’s doors. The university opens an investigation into Phi Sigma Mu, and the fraternity is suspended after someone leaks details of the hazing to authorities. The pledge master becomes a suspect in Brad’s mind, hinting at a culture of silence and betrayal within the house.
The ugliness escalates in a jarring, symbolic way when Brad returns to his dorm to find his goat defecating on the carpet, its coat shaved with the words “Rat Fuck,” a cruel emblem of the humiliation that has become routine for the pledges. Confrontations at the house push Brad toward more confrontations with the brotherhood, and he’s accused of feeding information to the authorities—an accusation that Brett counters by stepping forward as the source of the leaks, reversing the sense of betrayal felt by Brad.
The pursuit of truth continues when Brad and Brett go to the police station to identify Brad’s attackers from six months earlier. One of the men is later revealed to have been shot in a gas-station robbery, while the other remains unidentified in a lineup. The film closes on a quiet, reflective note as Brad and Brett return to the field where the beating occurred, the weight of what happened lingering as they face an uncertain future and the fragile line between loyalty and survival.
