A crusading reporter plans his own arrest and conviction for first degree murder, trying to show that the death sentence should be outlawed when based on circumstantial evidence alone, but his plan goes awry.

The growth of small-town juvenile crime starts a movement for the construction of a youth center. The project leaders discuss with town mayor Phineas Wharton Sr. about buying an old warehouse and rebuilding it as the Center. However, Wharton has plans to buy it himself for another project from which he would profit. But the Teen-Agers--Freddie, Dodie, Betty, Lee and Roy--now attending San Juan Junior College, think otherwise.