When his father walks out on his mother and himself, bespectacled, nerdy Will McKenzie is forced to leave his private school and enrol at the local comprehensive, where his accent and appearance make him an easy target for the school psycho. Seeking to make friends with 'normal' boys he pals up with Jay, Neil and Simon, but none of them are exactly winners, as is evidenced when they try to buy alcohol in a pub.
The four bunk off School and get drunk. Will tells Carli D'amato he loves her by writing it on her drive way in big letters. It ends badly when Simon and Will's parents find out what they've been doing all day.
Simon passes his driving test at the first attempt, less on account of his skills than the fact that the Tracey, the saucy examiner, finds him cute. As promised, he agrees to take his three friends to Thorpe Park, where he can get in free as he knows the man who clears up the sick. Once on the road, Will, Jay and Neil realize that Simon is a rubbish driver.
To the amazement - and annoyance - of the other three boys, Will takes off with Charlotte Hinchcliffe, the most desired girl in the school, and he even ends up in bed with her though he keeps his socks on.
When Jay, sex-obsessed as ever, tells the other boys that Camber Sands Caravan Club is a hot-bed for swingers they decide to call his bluff and go along for the weekend.
As the only person to have volunteered for the job, Will is elected Chairman of the Organization Party for the end of term Christmas bash and ropes the other three boys into being his assistants. Simon, needless to say, is keen to use the opportunity to declare his public love for Carli D'Amato, which proves to be anything but a good idea.