The Education of Charlie Banks is a coming of age tale that spans from the playgrounds of lower Manhattan to the idyllic greens of a fictional liberal arts college in upstate New York. Set during the eighties, it is a story about change, inevitability, and ultimately, about facing one's fears.

In St. John College, the freshmen and best friends Luke and Roger meet the sexy blond cousins Lilly and Constance in the laundry of their building. They are next-door neighbors, and the experienced girls invite the young men to visit them anytime. Lilly forgets a package of coins in the laundry, and Luke goes to their room to return it. The room is empty, and he sneaks around, when the two girls arrive. Luke hides himself in the wardrobe, and through an opening, he sees Lilly with many tentacles on her breast. Luke tries to convince his friends that the girls are aliens, planning to attack Earth, but nobody believes in him. Meanwhile, some friends of them are found dead, with the internal organs completely frozen.

Harold Lamb is so excited about going to college that he has been working to earn spending money, practicing college yells, and learning a special way of introducing himself that he saw in a movie. When he arrives at Tate University, he soon becomes the target of practical jokes and ridicule. With the help of his one real friend Peggy, he resolves to make every possible effort to become popular.