The teen years of Irish writer and political activist Brendan Behan. At the age of sixteen, while on a bombing mission from Ireland to Liverpool during the Second World War, he is apprehended, charged and imprisoned by the British. He is sent to a Borstal, a reform institution for young offenders, in East Anglia, England. At Borstal, Brendan is forced to live face to face with those he perceived as "the enemy," a confrontation that forces a self-examination that is both traumatic and revealing. Events take an unexpected turn as Brendan falls for the headmaster's daughter and befriends an ostracized gay student. In the emotional vortex, he finally faces up to some difficult truths and finds a way to move on.