The year 1987. A homeless drifter and orphan Marcus ends up in an unusual school: here teenagers are taught to "inventively solve problems," or, more simply, to kill. A hand-to-hand combat seminar, a lecture on poisons, a shooting colloquium — murder here has been elevated to a cult, turned into an art, and shrouded in philosophy. The students learn the science of standing up to those in power, argue about the advantages of strychnine over sodium cyanide, break each other’s limbs, cruelly joke, and the clashes behind garages even end in death.