The Shrapnel Academy is a military school named for Henry Shrapnel, inventor of the exploding cannonball. It is January, time for the annual Eve-of-Waterloo dinner, and the guest list--a mix of truly disparate characters--is a sure recipe for combustion. Septuagenarian General Leo Makeshift, charged with delivering the annual Wellington lecture, arrives in a black Rolls-Royce. The knee under his hand belongs to his current mistress, Bella, who wars a tight black skirt and seamed stockings for the occasion. (Bella is considerably younger than the general.) Medusa, or "Mew," on the other hand, hitchhikes to Shrapnel after the gas runs out on her motorbike. Mew is the correspondent from Woman's Times and, yes, it was a mistake to allow a feminist reporter on the scene.