At first, Maurice reacts with horror, but he soon realizes that he reciprocates Clive's feelings.
Clive falls in love with his friend and surprises Maurice by confessing his feelings.
Years later, in 1909, Maurice is attending Cambridge, where he strikes up a friendship with two fellow students: the aristocratic Viscount Risley and the rich and handsome Clive Durham. During a trip to a windswept beach, Maurice Hall, an 11-year-old schoolboy, receives instructions about the 'sacred mysteries' of sex from his teacher, who wants to explain to the fatherless boy the changes he would experience in puberty.
