The Charles Club is not the best men's club in Boston—most people assume the Somerset is—but it is one of the oldest, rowdiest, and most alcoholic. It is also facing the greatest crisis of its one-hundred-and-twenty-five–year history. Demetria Constantine, the beautiful young Boston politico and Chairperson of the Massachusetts Licensing Board, has the Charles Club squarely in her sights. If they do not admit women as members they will lose that which is almost as dear to them as their principles—their liquor license.