The film begins with Hugo speaking about his desire to be like a bird, to fly. We then watch as Hugo is used as a pawn by his father, Coach Duke, in order to allow Odin, 'O' the star of the high school basketball team, to make the game-winning shot for which he is hoisted high by the fans rushing the court. At a party to celebrate the team's win, Hugo begins to set in motion his plan to become the star of the team by enlisting Roger to go to the school's dean to tell him that O forced himself on the dean's daughter, Desi.
O is called into Coach Duke's office, where the dean accuses him, and when Desi arrives she tells her father that she and O have been seeing each other for four months and it is none of his business. Hugo next orchestrates a fight between Roger and Mike, a sophomore on the basketball team that ends with Roger cut in his stomach. The fight gets Mike suspended for two games and O will not speak to him. Hugo tells Mike that the only way to get back on the team is for O to support him to Coach. And, the only way to do that is to get Desi to tell O to do so. Thus, Mike follows Hugo's advice and begins spending every moment he can with Desi to get back on O's good side. But, the result is what Hugo desired: O begins to believe Desi is cheating on him with Mike. This is played up by Hugo, who, over a short time, gains the confidence of O and begins to manipulate him by telling O that the scarf he gave to Desi she gave to Mike.
Hugo's plan works perfectly when Mike's girlfriend gives him back the scarf, disgusted that he would give her something from another girl. O sees the whole thing and is ready to kill Mike. Hugo has a master plan to set in motion that he reveals to O where Mike and Desi will die and it will look like Mike did it. But, during the plan, Roger is not able to stomach shooting Mike, and Hugo's masterwork of betrayal begins to unravel. O goes through with killing Desi by strangling her, and when Emily, Hugo's girlfriend, comes to the scene she tells O that Hugo had her steal the scarf. For this, Hugo shoots Emily.
O, destroyed by the revelation that Hugo has convinced him to kill the love of his life, takes his own life by shooting himself in the heart. Hugo is hauled off in the back of a police car as the trees on the school grounds blow in the wind.
