Hart Fox may not have the pedigree to be a shoo-in at Stutts, a prestigious Ivy League school, but he has the grades and the rsum. And he does make it in-sort of. His acceptance is hijacked by Burlington Darling III, a wealthy alum who is so desperate to get his hapless son, Trip, into Stutts that he funds a new boathouse. Darling offers to get Hart a spot in the freshman class, and pay his way, if Hart will take all of Trip's classes for him.

Despite this deal with the devil, Hart arrives on the Stutts campus jubilant. But what awaits him is a strange parallel universe of secret societies, inexplicable traditions, and class hierarchies. Soon, Hart finds himself aligned with the outcasts at an all-but-defunct school humor magazine, where a journalistic stunt catapults him into a mad, escalating guerilla war with the Darlings. With threats of death-and worse-expulsion looming over him, Hart must rely on his wit, and the aid of some very exceptional friends, to save him.