An Explanation for Everything paints a realistic picture of a divided country through the story of an 18-year-old boy's scandal-ridden school-leaving exam.

It is summer in Budapest. High school student Ábel should be preparing for his final exams, but he has just realised that he is in love with his best friend, Janka. Janka is a good student, so she doesn't have to worry about the exam, but she's hopelessly in love with her history teacher, James. Jakab has a family, is trying to survive as a teacher in Hungary, and has had a run-in with Ábel's conservative father. The tensions of a divided society come to the surface when Ábel's history exam turns into a national scandal, and he finds himself somewhere between the two sides, in the middle of it all, and still in love.