This is the author introducing himself to his class on his first day at a remedial boarding school (he's been thrown out of four schools already) where he's trying to pass 9th grade and maybe even graduate high school. However, most of his remedial education takes place after hours: with five other kids who rapidly become a gang of friends, Benjamin is on the trail of the Secret of Life -- which involves everything from nighttime raids on the girls dorm, booze, first sex, rock n' roll, and going out on the sly to Munich night clubs.

Fresh, full of energy, devoid of self-pity, here is a teenager learning about what friends are, what girls are, how you make the best of the hand you've been dealt, and how you find your way in a crazy world by just being yourself -- crazy -- back.