Lawrence Bourne III (Tom Hanks), is a spoiled rich kid who just graduated from Yale University ("A College") Class of 1962 with a $28,000 gambling debt ($233,647.95 in 2018 dollars). After his father, Lawrence Bourne Jr. (George Plimpton), refuses to pay his son's debt, Lawrence escapes his angry creditors by trading places with his college roommate Kent (Xander Berkeley) and jumping on a Peace Corps flight to Thailand.