“The Taming” goes back in time to September of 1963, when Will McLean arrived at the Institute campus for the beginning of his plebe year. Will has enrolled in the college on a basketball scholarship, and is surprised when the upperclassmen who check him in—including his platoon sergeant, Fox—deride him and treat him harshly. Apparently, Will has not been informed of the mental and physical ordeals of plebe year; this tough treatment quickly escalates as Will and the other R Company plebes take part in Hell Night, a fierce round of drills and exercises designed to test their toughness and to eliminate weaker plebes. Will survives Hell Night, as does a new friend of his, Tradd St. Croix. However, Will’s initial roommate, Harvey Clearwater, disappears soon after Hell night wraps up.

Although Will remains a nonconformist at heart, he adapts to the tough ways of the Institute as his freshman year progresses. Other members of his class are not so lucky: those who are deemed unworthy of staying enrolled, usually because they exhibit fear or weakness, are driven out by upperclassmen in a process known as “The Taming.” While Taming methods are often successful, the older members of R Company have trouble ejecting a plebe from Will’s year, Bobby Bentley, who has a courageous personality but urinates whenever he is under pressure.