Cambridge, Great Britain, 1980s. When the headmaster of Porterhouse College dies without naming a successor, the government appoints a former graduate whose ideas clash with the extreme conservatism that reigns at the institution.
The dying Master of Porterhouse succumbs to a Porterhouse Blue - a stroke brought on by over-indulgence. In his place comes a new Master, Sir Godber Evans, an ex-grammar-school boy, failed politician and old Porterhusian, who chooses the occasion of the annual great feast to announce a major break with six centuries of college tradition: Porterhouse will open its doors to scholars!
The Dean mounts an attack to counter the new master, Sir Godber Evans, who continues with his attempt to drag the college into the modern world. Meanwhile, Skullion finds an ally in old Porterhusian Sir Cathcart D'Eath, and Zipser seeks 'confidential' counselling with the Chaplain about his obsession with the buxom bedder Mrs Biggs, which is getting out of control.
The new Master, Sir Godber, is in self-congratulatory mood. His plans to impose change on Porterhouse appear to have the College's traditionalist Fellows over a barrel. In response, the Dean and Sir Cathcart D'Eath bring in investigative journalist and former Porterhouse student Cornelius Carrington to help fight their corner.
With a view to ending the new Master's regime, the Dean and Sir Cathcart D'Eath encourage television journalist Cornelius Carrington to make a documentary about the College. They haven't reckoned on Carrington's methods, or on Skullion's gift for 'television verite'. And nobody - not even Skullion himself - has reckoned on the head porter achieving an indelible place in the history of Porterhouse.
