Stephen Lord is one of the good guys. He believes in justice, second chances and the power of redemption. He is also the headteacher of Rapton Community High School, where the pupils are running wild and the staff on the brink of mutiny.Dean Bywater too is interested in justice. Fresh out of prison and seeking retribution for a tragedy rooted in his past, he returns to Rapton to find his fifteen year old nephew Callum poised between dreams of an army career and burgeoning criminality.Meanwhile, A* student Todd is carrying a burden he cannot share even with ace teacher Finn Macallister or his sympathetic form tutor, new recruit Leigh Summers.As the new school year begins, one small act of cruelty sets in motion a series of events which will have dreadful consequences for them all.