In the fall of 1960, the unnamed narrator is in his final year at an elite New England prep school for boys. The narrator hides details about his life from his classmates, most notably that he’s middle-class and has Jewish heritage. He loves to write stories, many of which make his home life back in Seattle seem more exciting than it is. The school has a tradition of hosting famous literary figures, and the senior students submit poems and stories for literary competitions; one boy is then selected to have a private audience with the writer. The is excited to participate. That November, Robert Frost visits the school, and the students must submit a poem for the competition. The narrator has three primary competitors: his roommate Bill White and his fellow Troubadour literary review members George Kellogg and Purcell.
For the poetry competition, the narrator writes a narrative poem about a hunter meditating over killing an elk—but Frost ends up selecting George Kellogg’s poem as the winner. Frost visits and recites some of his poems before answering a few questions from the audience. The next day, George meets with Frost, and he later relays to the narrator that Frost advised him to go to a place like Kamchatka or Brazil to gain more experience.
Ayn Rand is the next visiting writer, though several of the teachers are outraged that she is placed in the same company as writers like Frost. On the way home for Christmas break, the narrator picks up a copy of Rand’s The Fountainhead. The narrator feels empowered by the book, thinking that if he takes on the main character’s machismo and arrogance, nothing can stand between him and his greatest desires. When classes resume and the next writing submission deadline approaches, the narrator comes down with the flu and pneumonia and spends two weeks in the infirmary. He misses the competition deadline entirely and learns that “Big Jeff” (Purcell’s cousin) won the competition.
When Rand arrives on campus, the narrator misses her lecture. Afterward, he sneaks out to Blaine Hall, where she agrees to meet some of the students and answer questions. Rand spends much of the time criticizing other writers, particularly Ernest Hemingway, for their weak characters. Afterward, the narrator realizes that Rand’s heroes are unrealistic and unkind. He decides to reread many of Hemingway’s stories and books, even copying out his stories on a typewriter to know what it might feel like to write a great story. Then, one evening, the headmaster announces that Hemingway is the next visiting writer. The narrator is determined to win the competition.
The boys grow feverish over the competition in the following weeks—everyone is desperate to win. Meanwhile, the end of the school year draws nearer. The narrator is awarded a full scholarship to Columbia University. But he realizes that throughout his time at school, not even his closest friends really know much about him. He wants to write a story that is brutally honest and vulnerable but feels completely blocked.
The night before the story is due, the narrator looks for inspiration. He finds a story in an old literary review from Miss Cobb’s (a nearby girls’ school) called “Summer Dance.” He relates to the story: like him, the protagonist hides her middle-class life and Jewish identity from her classmates. The narrator retypes the story, changing the protagonist’s name and gender to his own but keeping most of the details and the title. He thinks that anyone who reads the story will know exactly who he is.
Soon after the stories are submitted, Mr. Ramsey tells the narrator that Hemingway has chosen his story as the winner. The narrator is elated. When the story is published, the other boys are impressed, though Bill (who is Jewish) is frustrated that the narrator used the experience of being Jewish without actually having that identity. The narrator wants to correct him and say that he actually is Jewish, but he’s too hurt to say anything.
A few days before Hemingway’s visit, the narrator is called into the dean’s office, though Dean Makepeace isn’t there—the headmaster and Mr. Ramsey are. The headmaster explains that a teacher at Miss Cobb’s read the story and recognized it as a story Susan Friedman wrote a few years earlier. The narrator is expelled for plagiarism, and Columbia revokes his acceptance.
Rather than returning home to Seattle, the narrator goes to New York City. For three years, he works odd jobs and then enlists in the army. In the fall of 1965, while the narrator is training in the army, he decides to contact Susan to apologize for stealing her story. They meet for lunch, and she says that she was flattered by his plagiarism and glad to hear of the joke he played. The narrator doesn’t have the heart to tell her that he didn’t submit the story as a joke, and he is disappointed when she tells him that she doesn’t write anymore and that she thinks writing is a lonely and selfish pursuit.
The narrator then goes on to college, gets married, has children, and becomes a writer. Over the years, the school invites the narrator to various alumni gatherings, and Mr. Ramsey even invites him back as a visiting writer. The narrator turns down the offer, worried that he doesn’t deserve to be in the company of the other great writers. The following spring, he happens to run into Mr. Ramsey, who tells the narrator that he does belong in the company of the other great writers, so the narrator agrees to visit. Mr. Ramsey also explains that the narrator doesn’t know everything that happened on the day he was expelled.
The narrator concludes with Mr. Ramsey’s story: Dean Makepeace was once asked whether he knew Ernest Hemingway in World War I, and his answer wasn’t fully clear. Over time, the students developed the impression that he was friends with Hemingway, which he never outright denied. So, when the narrator’s dishonesty was discovered, Dean Makepeace felt that he could not expel the boy since he, too, had been dishonest. After 30 years of teaching at the school, he decided to resign. After a year, however, Dean Makepeace could not find a job. He missed teaching, so he asked the headmaster for his old job back. The headmaster granted him the position, and when he returned to the school, the headmaster greeted him with open arms.
