Jason Malmuth becomes President of Pine Mountain College determined to change what he considers its rustic image. Aided by venal Provost Bottleby and a reluctant but compliant Dean Hiram Grudger, Malmuth seeks to eliminate the school's Appalachian Studies Program. The faculty of the program oppose him, but are hampered by the psychological problems of John Jaykyll, their leader, and by mysterious attempts on the life of handsome Roger Duvant, one of their members, by an unknown assailant. They receive support from an unlikely source, the Dean's wife, who seduces Duvant but aids him in his struggle to survive the efforts of Malmuth and Bottleby to fire him. Jaykyll undergoes psychiatric treatment to overcome his fears of confrontation that are causing him to lose touch with reality. Rooted in his childhood and his youthful sexual experiences, his trances disappear as Jaykyll responds to the treatment of his psychiatrist and becomes able to confront Malmuth.