In a dystopian future city, the main character and narrator, Alex, and his gang of “Droogs” (friends), run wild through a society which has fallen into a complacent stupor. The city is governed by a repressive government which operates as a totalitarian state. Alex and his droogs speak in a slang dialect called “nadsat” which incorporates aspects of Cockney English, Russian, and proper English.
His gang of droogs consists of Pete, Dim, and Georgie; with Alex they spend their time committing acts of random violence and rape. They fill the rest of their time in the Korova Milkbar or the Duke of New York drinking milk which has been laced with drugs. Alex and his gang seem to represent a youth culture which has fallen to boredom and violence.
The story begins with Alex narrating from the Korova. He and his droogs are sitting around drinking drug fueled milk drinks when they decide to go out for a night of what they call “ultraviolence.” Their run of ultraviolence consists of muggings, robbery, auto theft, and rape. They eventually steal a car and after riding around in the countryside for some time, they find a lone house occupied by a couple. Alex and his droogs proceed to brutally beat the man and rape his wife while forcing the man to watch.
After the night of ultraviolence, Alex and the droogs head back to the Korova, and which point they begin bickering and fighting with each other. One of Alex’s droogs, Dim, mocks an opera that Alex is particularly fond of (Alex loves Beethoven) and Alex punches Dim in the face. We can tell at this point that Dim will attempt revenge on Alex.
On their next night of crime and violence they break into a women’s house, but she is able to call the police. As they attempt to flee, Dim hits Alex in the eye with a chain. Dim and the other droogs get away but Alex is apprehended. After he is arrested and taken to the police station, he learns from the police that they woman Alex raped the previous night has died. This will be added to his charges.
Alex is convicted of his crimes and sentenced to fourteen years in prison. He has a difficult time in prison at first. It is an environment which proves to be more brutal than he is used to as he encounters other prisoners who brutalize him and even some who want to rape him. However, after a time, he adjusts. Eventually a prison chaplain notices that Alex likes to read the Bible, and the chaplain arranges for Alex to read in the chapel. There he is allowed to listen to classical music and read. The chaplain does not realize that Alex reads the Bible for the violence and sex he finds in the Old Testament.
After fighting with one of his cellmates, Alex is selected to receive and experimental treatment—a form of brainwashing called Ludovico’s Technique. Alex is injected with a drug which causes severe nausea and headaches while being forced to watch exceedingly violent movies and images. In this way, he will come to associate violence with the nausea and headaches. The treatment takes about two weeks and apparently achieves its goal.
Unfortunately, the treatment involved listening to classical music, particularly Beethoven, which accompanies the films. As a result, the treatment has the side effect of making Alex just as sick from exposure to this music as from violence. The conclusion of the state and the prison officials is that the results are sufficient and the side effects are of no real consequence.
So it is that Alex is released after only two years in prison. He is now harmless and physically averse to violence. Upon release, Alex is forced to reckon with some of his old victims and adversaries. He eventually encounters Dim and one of his old enemies, Billyboy, who have now become police officers. These two decide to settle their old scores and take Alex to a field in the country and proceed to beat him. Not only is Alex outnumbered, he is sickened by the violence and unable to defend himself. The two thugs/police officers leave Alex in the field in the rain.
As he stumbles around searching for help, Alex happens upon a cottage. He bangs on the door pleading for help. A man answers the door and lets Alex in. Alex immediately recognizes the man as the husband of the woman who he raped. However, the man does not recognize Alex and he tends to Alex in his beaten state.
This man is F. Alexander. He is a political dissident. After hearing Alex’s story, he decides to use Alex as an example of the violence of the state. F. Alexander want to have Alex make a series of public appearances to create outrage toward the government. Alex, however, is tired of being an experiment. He verbally attacks the man and, speaking in nadsat, berates the man. Once Alex speaks in his strange dialect, F. Alexander recognizes who he is. He remembers the language of the people who attacked him and his wife.
F. Alexander and his associates decide to lock Alex in an attic and force him to listen to classical music. They do this in an attempt to drive Alex insane and compel him to commit suicide. This will serve as their indictment of the government. Alex does become overwhelmed by the sickness induced by the music and jumps from the window of the attic. However, he does not die.
While Alex recuperated in the hospital, a political struggle gets underway. The repressive government wins out. The doctors who tend to Alex undo the Ludovico Technique and restore Alex to “normal.” As he returns to his violent old self, Alex assembles a new gang and they engage in the same violence.
However, Alex is growing tired of this life, and he eventually runs into one of his old droogs, Pete. Alex sees that Pete is now living a normal life. He is married and settled down. Alex decides that he too wants to live a normal life. Alex meets a woman from a coffee house and begins dreaming of a future with a wife and a son.