Romance, Betrayal, Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare Sam Thompson is an American exchange student at a small liberal arts college in England in 1995. He lives in a hundred year old mansion, gets to travel throughout Europe almost every weekend, and he has been romancing the most interesting girl at the school. It should be the greatest time of his life, but for some reason he decides to quit sleeping. Through parties, bar fights, and a school production of The Taming of the Shrew, the hours add up as he continues to make decisions that he may regret for the rest of his life.