During Boys' Week at racially integrated North High School, students Steve Smith Richard Cromwell, Gus Ruffo Ben Alexander, and Billy Anderson Michael Stuart are elected to temporarily hold the city offices of district attorney, judge, and chief of police, setting up a high-stakes experiment in youth-led governance.
When Jewish tailor Herman Harry Green refuses to pay protection money to Louis Garrett Charles Bickford, Garrett's gang bombs his shop. Herman and the student who was with him survive the blast, but Herman is later murdered by Garrett after he again refuses to pay. Garrett is quickly acquitted of murder charges thanks to a perfect alibi, leaving Steve to feel the sting of a trial where his witness testimony fails to prove guilt.
Frustrated but undeterred, Billy, Gus, and Sam Weber Lester Arnold decide to investigate on their own. They uncover a partial cufflink at the murder scene, a clue that points toward Garrett’s circle. The trio breaks into Garrett's bedroom, but Garrett is tipped off by Morry Dover Ben Alexander, a student who is competing with Steve for the affections of Gay Merrick Judith Allen. Dover’s warning sends them scrambling, but the seeds of a plan have been planted.
At Garrett's club, Dover introduces Gay to Toledo Bradley Page, Garrett's enforcer, and the tension between loyalty and ambition escalates. In a brutal turn, Garrett shoots Billy, killing him, and frames Gus for the crime, leaving the community stunned and the investigation far from closed. After the funeral, Steve bears guilt over Gay’s supposed involvement in Dover’s tip-off and begins to rally a broader effort.
Steve assembles hundreds of student body presidents from neighboring high schools, turning a campus initiative into a city-wide pursuit of justice. With relentless energy, the students coordinate a makeshift legal process; Garrett is captured and taken to a remote brickyard for a secret trial, while Gay and Dover seek redemption by drawing Toledo’s attention, though Gay is forced to seduce him in the process. Garrett confesses only after the students suspend him over a pit filled with rats, and the crowd—backed by a sympathetic police presence—marches him to City Hall to witness a formal confession.
Meanwhile, the real “big” boss behind Garrett’s protection racket has already left town, removing one layer of the criminal networks from the equation. After eluding Toledo, Gay arrives to witness Garrett’s arrest, and Garrett signs the confession. Gus is released, and Steve, Gay, and Dover sit in a borrowed car, listening to a live broadcast about their own actions until a police officer arrives to arrest them for being in a stolen vehicle. The story closes on a note that blends teenage courage with the consequences of vigilantism, leaving the characters to reckon with what justice looks like when youth and crime collide.
