Although the story takes place in present-day Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California, with events occurring in various locales such as the homes, high school, and leisure-time places of the teen-agers, it is the control room of Bungalow #66 of the University Psychology Department that is the integral setting for the Circle of Revenge.

In this small, windowless, soundproof room, Robbie Cavanaugh, with earphones on his head and sitting on a hard bench staring at a movie screen, undergoes hours of intense psychological stress as the subject of an experiment that attempts to control his mind through imagery and sound manipulation. Within the dark confines of the control room, Robbie takes on the personality of the victim presented on the screen, simultaneously undergoing his fear and pain. The room becomes Robbie's prison as well as the catalyst that will lead to a new understanding of himself.