When shrill-pitched Miss Becker hits on a scheme to cure her 6th graders' laziness, Sonya and her boarding school classmates find out how an already demanding teacher can become an absolute tyrant. In true military style, Miss Becker directs her seven graduates to act out the 1777 Battle of Princeton in a class pageant. She plucks all the fun out of their project with her decree of historical accuracy. When the girls decide to rebel one night and fight their own battle, a zany adventure develops that leaves Miss Becker furious. A whole new world of honesty and friendship opens before timid Sonya - a world that includes one of those fascinating boys from the school across the way, and a spunky classmate who becomes her very first and best friend.