Narrated by young Oxford fellow Johnny James, Holt College tells the story of the principal of Holt College, Dr. Willoughby Morris. Morris's increasingly autocratic rule of the college brings him into conflict with many of the college fellows who begin to maneuver for his removal, but when there is a leak from the college finance committee to the undergraduate newspaper about an expenses scandal, the news is picked up by the national press and Morris's dictatorship is rocked to the core. A haunting portrait of one man's life, Holt College shows the inner political workings of one of the country's oldest institutions and the perils that come when such a world is made public.