The plot revolves around the return of Brian Woods (Leitch), a "problem teen". He has just been released from a mental hospital; he was admitted after the suspicious death of his father, who crashed and died while driving a car with cut brakes. He falls in love with his classmate, Paula Carson (Jill Schoelen), but the local basketball star, Dwight Ingalls (Brad Pitt), is already Paula's boyfriend. Meanwhile, the lecherous school principal also seeks Paula's affections. Then horrible murders start happening with no one certain of the identity of the culprit. The main suspects are Dwight, whose control of his anger has never been perfect; Woods, who may not have been fully cured at the sanitarium; and the principal, who seems to stop at nothing in his attempts to sleep with Paula.