This film continues MacDougall's long-term study of an elite boys' boarding school in northern India. It focuses on a group of twelve-year-olds during their first year in one of the 'houses' for new boys. The film concerns their attachment to the house, but, more importantly, their attachment to one another in a communal life. It follows, in particular, the experiences of one boy and several of his close associates, from their initial homesickness, to their life as member of the group, to their separation from the house at the end of the year.