In Malibu, California, Alexander is just another defiant, misbehaved teenager. When the correctional therapy and ADHD medication don't have the intended effect, his father, as a last resort, ships him off to an English boarding school.
After two years away from L.A., Alexander, now seventeen, comes back for Christmas break. Plunged into a world of apathy, excess, debauchery, and parental neglect, Alexander must confront the past he tried to forget, and find where he belongs in between these two worlds.