Berlin, 1942. Friedrich Weimer is 17 and has just finished school. He comes from a poor background, but still dreams of making something of his life. The one thing he has a passion for is amateur boxing. He gets his chance when he meets the appreciative Vogler who shares his enthusiasm for boxing and teaches at the elite Nazi school Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt (Napola). When Friedrich is accepted into the school, Vogler becomes his mentor. Friedrich finds a new friend in the son of the highly placed Nazi chief Albrecht Stein – a sensitive boy who voices his doubts about the ideology which the other pupils have had banged into them without a passing thought. In daily confrontation with the tough inexorable drill dictated by the school, Albrecht increasingly finds himself in conflict with those around him. Friedrich realises that his friend has chosen his fate, even at the price of self-destruction. He decides to use the remains of what freedom he has left to try to live an honourable life.