In 1870, Mr. Charles Chipping, an unsophisticated, very shy young man, starts a teaching career at Brookfield, an English boys school created in 1492. He was incredibly nervous, and his knees were shaking as he faced them that day, but he managed as it wasn't difficult to learn to be a disciplinarian. That first year was very lonely, until the summer, when it turned into the very best time of his life...