After a long bus ride, Jerri arrives at her childhood home to find that her father Guy Blank (Dan Hedaya), now in a coma, has re-married and fathered a child, Derrick (Joseph Cross). Although mortified by her stepdaughter's return, his new wife, Sara Blank (Deborah Rush), begrudgingly allows Jerri to move in when the family doctor suggests that her presence might bring Guy out of his thirty-two-year coma.

The next day Jerri is ready to start her new life and is dropped off at Flatpoint High School. She is admitted as a student by Principal Blackman (Greg Hollimon), who has just made a deal with the school board that if his school wins this year's Science Fair, they will be able to keep school board funding, despite everyone in the school having failing test scores.

At a faculty meeting Blackman informs Science Teacher Chuck Noblet (Stephen Colbert), Art Teacher Geoffrey Jellineck (Paul Dinello) and the others that he has brought in Science Fair ringer Roger Beekman (Matthew Broderick) to win the fair. Mr. Noblet argues and is given his own team, which Jerri quickly joins hoping that it will make her father proud.

Meanwhile, Jerri has her eye on handsome Brason (Chris Pratt), the school jock, while her friend Megawatti (Carlo Alban) falls for her, creating a true cinematic love triangle. Mr. Beekman recruits Mr. Jellineck to help add sizzle to his science fair entry, only to discover days before the deadline that they only have a dance number and no science project. Deciding that fair play is for losers, Beekman's team devises a plan to use Brason's charm over Jerri to steal Noblet's teams' schematics for their Soup Can-Superconductor science project.

After a difficult date, Brason gets Jerri to hand over the plans. When Principal Blackman sees Beekman's Superconductor first, Noblet's team thinks all is lost and blames Jerri. If she doesn't want to screw up her one chance to do high school over, Jerri will have to use her prison know-how to help the team win and make her father proud.