Ernest (Jim Varney) works as a janitor at Chickasaw Falls High School, which is facing closure due to the school board's decision to merge other schools in the area. There is also a new rule: All employees are required to have a high school diploma, which Ernest lacks due to an incomplete high school transcript. Ernest has two choices as a result: Resign or go through the twelfth grade. Ernest reluctantly decides to redo school and enters the student body, attending regular classes and performing usual student activities, but all not with a little catastrophe or predicament or distraction.