It's Christmastime in suburban New Jersey, where the geeky and good-hearted Ben Mitchell has spent the past 4 years counting the days until he can move onto college and reinvent himself. Syd Raines spends her time with the Goth crowd, the closest thing she has found to kindred spirits, though mostly on a superficial level. The only thing that Ben and Syd seem to have in common is the daily abuse they take from the High School Power Elite. That is, until they both flunk a Chemistry test, and are given a choice between working on the dreaded Winter Dance Decorating Committee, or being stuck in high school purgatory. Reluctantly, they are forced into an uneasy partnership that will take two outsiders further away from where they're used to being, but perhaps closer to where they're meant to be.