A Separate Peace

This offbeat drama focuses on the years bridging adolescence and adulthood of seven male students. Set at a stuffy East Coast prep school in 1942, roommates Heyl and Stevenson share an especially close relationship. The way in which the young men deal with their feelings about the war is the focal point of the story. One of the group, Brush, joins the service and eventually becomes a deserter. The others are in a quandary about what to do after their impending graduation. The school's justice system finds Stevenson guilty of causing an accident that has injured Heyl. A disbelieving Heyl falls down a staircase and later dies during an operation on his leg. The story is told by Stevenson in flashbacks after he has returned from the war. He tells it under the tree that was the site of the first tragedy that befell his friend. (official distributor synopsis)