Prologue and Act One

The play opens on the night of the high school commencement dance. Billy Brown stands on the pier with his parents, who decide that Billy will go to college to study architecture and that he will eventually become a partner in his father's firm. Soon after the Browns leave, the Anthonys approach the pier. Dion walks behind them "as if he were a stranger." Mr. and Mrs. Anthony argue about sending Dion to college. His father says he doesn't believe in it, declaring, "let him slave like I had to!... College'11 only make him a bigger fool than he is already." However, when Mrs. Anthony tells him that Billy will be going to college to become an architect and afterward will work in the contracting firm he and Mr. Brown jointly own, Dion's father changes his mind, insisting that Dion will go to college...