This movie is of Hally, an adolescent white South African. He is stuck between his intolerant father's outlook of him and those of his caretaker, Sam. Sam is a black waiter and Hally's friend and teacher. Hally is required to laugh at his father's racist jokes, by contrast, Sam exposes Hally to uplifting experiences. One day Hally was terribly humiliated by his father and Sam shows Hally how to be proud of something he can achieve.

When Harold, a young white man, learns that his alcoholic, handicapped father is returning home, his frustration turns into racist viciousness against the two black men who work for the family.

A poignant coming of age story and exploration of a friendship between a young white boy, and the two adult black men he has grown up around, against the backdrop of the oppressive, divisive apartheid laws of the time. Although society dictates their education are worlds apart, Sam has helped guide Hally from boy to manhood, educating him about the realities and injustices of the world, while Hally in turn teaches Sam what he has learnt at school. Their friendship has taken on an almost fatherly role for Hally, as he struggles with the strained relationship with his alcoholic father. During their debates and reminiscing on the rainy afternoon, Sam and Willy talk about their dreams of winning a ball room competition—their 'world without collisions'—a metaphor for their aspirations and yearning to create a better life for themselves. The peace is broken with the news Hally's drunken father is returning home, unleashing an anger in Hally that leads to an unprecedented bigoted outburst.

St George's Park Tea Room, Port Elizabeth, 1950. On a long rainy afternoon, employees Sam and Willie practise their steps for the finals of the ballroom dancing championship. Hally arrives from school to hide out in his parents’ tea room. These two men have been unlikely best friends to Hally his whole life. But it is apartheid era South Africa: he’s Master Harold, and they are the boys. Tony Award-winning playwright Athol Fugard’s semi-autobiographical and blistering masterwork explores the nature of friendship, and the ways people are capable of hurting even those they love.