A finales del siglo pasado, una familia tiene dificultades para hacerse cargo de la educación de un hijo problemático y difícil, por lo que deciden mandarlo a una escuela tan rígida que al chico le costará muchísimo adaptarse al severo régimen de conducta imperante.

Based on a collection of stories with the focus on young John Humperkink "Dink" Stover, a student at the Lawrenceville Prepatory School, in 1896, whose family, in Eastcester, New York, have just about given up on his education because he is an incorrigible student. He gets into one situation after another and incurs the dislike of his classmates, who think he is cowardly but he changes their opinion when he challenges several of them to a fight. When he returns home for the summer, he meets Miss Dolly Travers and increases his 'hatred of women' because she does not accept his schoolboy pranks. Back at school, in the fall, he is more difficult than ever until his philosophy is changed by a teacher.