It's 1919 and the US naval base in Newport, Rhode Island, is mired in 'conditions of vice'. Mr Vole has a plan to clean it up. He orders a group of young sailors to infiltrate Newport's dens of depravity, meet other young sailors and have sex with them; then uses their graphic reports to conduct a string of arrests. Only when the investigation snares an Episcopal priest does it explode in a scandal that reaches up to the highest level of government. Based on a real-life sex scandal, A Hole in the Fence is a comic exploration of desire, duplicity, and the slippery terrain of public morality.