David, Derrel Maury, a new student at Central High, meets Mark, Andrew Stevens, an old friend whom he once helped out of a jam at their previous school. Mark, Andrew Stevens, explains that the school can feel like a country club for him if he befriends Bruce, Ray Underwood, Craig, Steve Bond, and Paul, Damon Douglas, the bullies who rule the student body; Mark has become their somewhat reluctant accomplice. The setup is clear: align with the trio and gain protection, or stand apart and face the escalating cruelty that dominates the hallways.
Over the next days, David witnesses the trio’s ruthless domination of the campus. Bruce, Ray Underwood; Craig, Steve Bond; and Paul, Damon Douglas torment classmates with a chilling efficiency. The bullies target a range of students, including Spoony, Robert Carradine—the scrawny outlier; Oscar, Jeffrey Winner—the overweight misfit; Arthur, Dennis Kort—the hearing-impaired librarian who tries to keep order in the library; and Rodney, Rex Steven Sikes—the car-owning outsider whose ride becomes a prize to be vandalized. The tension intensifies when David intervenes as the trio attempt to assault two female students, Mary, Cheryl Smith, and Jane, Lani O'Grady, in an empty classroom. Their bodies and the power they wield make it clear that the school’s “country club” invitation carries a dangerous price.
After this violent confrontation, the bullies deliver a chilling ultimatum to Mark: they give him one last chance to rein in David, to stop sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. When Mark cannot bend David to their will, the trio decide to take matters into their own hands. Meanwhile, David finds himself drawn to Mark’s girlfriend, Theresa, Kimberly Beck, adding a personal complication to the already tense dynamic.
One evening, while David is in Rodney’s garage repairing the car, the bullies strike. They topple the jack from beneath the vehicle, and a wheel crashes into David’s right leg, crippling him. The injury marks a turning point: the once-defiant outsider now becomes the target of a brutal, escalating vigilante arc.
Discharged from the hospital, David embarks on a methodical revenge, arranging fatal “accidents” for the three tormentors. Bruce is electrocuted when his hang-glider is sabotaged to crash into a power line; Craig is lured into a dangerous dive from a high platform into an empty swimming pool; Paul’s van is pushed off a cliff with him inside. Each death reshapes the school’s social order, and the atmosphere shifts from one of fear to a distorted sense of justice in David’s eyes.
With the bullies dead, the school experiences a jarring transformation. The formerly tormented students begin to imitate their persecutors, seeking power and control through new alliances with David. The consequences multiply: Arthur dies when his hearing-aid malfunctions; Oscar’s locker explodes when he opens it; and Rodney’s car explodes after its engine is started. Spoony, Mary, and Jane stumble upon a box of dynamite while camping under a cliff; they ignore it, dismissing it as a curiosity, but a rockslide triggered by an explosion at their campsite kills them as they return to their tent for a planned intimate moment.
The police soon blame Spoony, Mary, and Jane for the carnage, even as Mark realizes the truth: David is the true architect of the tragedy. In a blunt confession, David reveals that he killed the bullies to save the tormented students from cruelty, yet he is disgusted to discover how they themselves have become worse people. He dubs himself a “madman” and laughs with a hollow detachment. Mark and Theresa understand that the final threat remains: David has planted a bomb in the school basement and intends to kill more at the upcoming school dance.
Armed with this knowledge, Mark and Theresa enter the gym where the dance will be held. David urges them to leave, warning that they will die if they stay. They refuse to abandon the others and insist on facing the danger together. David limps toward the basement, intent on dismantling the bomb, but time runs out. He succeeds in removing the device, but there isn’t enough time to diffuse it fully, and the bomb detonates. David dies in the blast, with the entire crowd rushing outside to witness the fiery aftermath.
To protect David’s reputation after his death, Mark and Theresa find a way to cast Spoony, Mary, and Jane as the bombers, implying that they planted the device. In truth, David’s final act was a grim attempt to give the school a chance at happiness, even as the cycle of violence consumes everyone connected to Central High. The tragedy leaves a scar on the campus, a reminder of how easily power corrupts and how quickly vengeance can mutate into new forms of cruelty, even when the motive is presented as justice.
