A boarding-school community is portrayed through the seasonal lives of its students, where athletics and friendships structure daily routines. The narrative follows Dan Vinton and his classmates as they return from vacation, receive a new student whose presence complicates social dynamics, and take part in hockey, baseball and other contests that reveal rivalries. Episodes of snow fights, classroom politics, and a near-drowning with a subsequent rescue intersperse practice scenes and examinations, building toward a decisive baseball showdown. Characters respond to setbacks by developing cooperation, responsibility and sportsmanship.