This is the first film version of the popular novel by William Golding. A group of boys from a blue-blooded, upper crust London finishing school board a plane to escape an impending aerial attack. The plane has engine trouble, the pilot is killed, and over three dozen boys take refuge on an uncharted tropical island. The boys gather to elect a chief, but the group splits into two factions. Both groups revert to animalistic killing and cannibalistic rituals in the absence of adult supervision and a structured society as they struggle to survive. The youthful cream of the crop sours quickly in this scathing social commentary about the thin line that separates humans from animals.