The year is 1924... Michael MacInnes is a cleaver and rebellious sixteen year old orphan who is accepted to a boy's only boarding school called Stoney Batter. At the time, Stoney Batter was one of the few schools with a letter-press and Michael wants desperately to write poetry for the school paper, but is rejected. Michael's school life may not seem very promising, but all that changes when he meets a mysterious woman who tells him that his poetry will receive great notoriety and he will soon fall in love with a beautiful girl.