The film is based around a small group of boys at the school and their new teacher, Mr Keating. Keating is not like the other teachers at Welton Academy. He is a man before his time. His teaching methods are new and somewhat controversial and he teaches the boys to think for themselves; to "seize the day".

And the plot thickens. As the boys begin to warm to the teaching methods and step outside the schools restrictions and ideas, things start to go wrong. The boys fall head-over-heels in love - be it with a girl, a rebellious new nature or acting.

From here on in we see the highs and lows of "seizing the day" and with this we see many peoples undoing and some big shake-ups in people's lives.