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Billy arrives in the Philadelphia Main Line suburb in April 1992. A junior at Llanview High School, he befriends Joey Buchanan, the son of Victoria Lord Buchanan. Closeted Billy comes out to Joey, who is shocked, struggled a little with how to handle this news but accepting of his friend's sexual orientation, choosing to stay friends.
A conflicted Billy comes out to Reverend Carpenter on June 26, 1992, and seeks counseling about coming out to his parents. Andrew encourages Billy to embrace his sexuality and to do what he feels is right.
Town pariah Marty Saybrooke eavesdrops on their counseling session. She seeks a romantic relationship with Andrew, but her advances are rebuffed. Angry, Marty goes to Billy's parents and tells them Andrew is a homosexual and molesting Billy. Billy's parents, Walter and Virginia Douglas, proceed to wage a campaign against the Reverend.
Andrew's girlfriend Cassie Callison receives an anonymous letter calling her a "fag lover." The church is vandalized with hate speech, leading its vestry to ask the priest to come out, but he refuses, avowing a right to privacy.
Andrew implores Marty to retract her accusation, but she refuses.
Andrew is beaten in a hate crime, and parishioners bar him from returning to the church. At the church, Billy defends Andrew, and gets the town to allow Andrew into the church. The Reverend delivers a stirring sermon on privacy and tolerance, swaying all of his congregation but Billy's father, who encourages parishioners to rebuke the priest.
Billy comes out to his father, who rejects him. His mother Virginia espouses her support in spite of hatred from some townspeople, some of whom begin to accept him. The reputation of Reverend Carpenter is restored, as he succeeds in winning hearts and minds, while Marty's reputation is tarnished even further.
Billy leaves Llanview to start college at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in the spring of 1993.