Coach Tugnut is looking for a replacement on the track team and he gives a tryout to Louis, the younger brother of the legendary Donnie Stevens, who the coach reveres. Team member Larry Beale sees an opportunity to destroy the Stevens legacy at Lawrence Junior High and finally defeat his nemeses. At the tryout Larry makes it look like Louis' time is best, and he makes the team. In practice Larry holds back against Louis, making Louis think that he's a great runner. Ren, who is assigned to cover the track meet for the school paper, figures out what's up. She tries to tell Louis but he's sure that Ren is just jealous because he's finally found something he's successful at. Ren warns Larry not to mess with ""Stevens genes;"" he'll lose every time.

During the race, Larry gets tangled up with an opponent and falls down. Louis goes back to help Larry, who jumps up and speeds off to win the race. Louis sticks with the injured opponent and the crowd cheers them instead of the winner Larry. Ren w

Louis makes Ren late for school on the Friday when she's supposed to set up her display for Lawrence Junior High's 75th anniversary. She assures Principal Wexler she'll have it done in time for Monday. While Wexler is going out of town, Coach Tugnut, about number 6 in line, is put in charge of the school. In gym class a girl Ren hardly knows named Chloe spends too much time talking to her and Coach gives both of them detention! Ren feals uneasy in the strange world of detention, run by a sleeping teacher and full of the school's misfits. The king of detention turns out to be none other than her brother Louis, who runs a gambling operation featuring racing hamsters. Tugnut shows up. Everything is hidden from him but he questions Ren. She doesn't rat out Louis, which gains her some respect in his eyes.

Ren needs to work on her display before Monday but doesn't know how she could possibly do that. Louis offers to help her by breaking into the school after hours. When they arrive there Ren

Coach Tugnut need a wrestler in Louis' weight class, and always looking for something to excel at, Louis tries out for the team. He does very well in the practices, but he's horrified to learn his first opponent will be the dreaded Mimi Nagurski! Knowing that wrestling a girl is a lose-lose situation for him, Louis tries to quickly gain enough weight to make himself ineligible. When that doesn't work he shows up at the match in a silly costume callling himself ""Luscious Lou,"" bragging about how he's the wrestler who uses love insted of force. He tries to get the crowd behind him but they don't buy it, so he has to go ahead and wrestle Nagurski. Also, Ren tries to get back at Louis with practical jokes of her own, but they end up backfiring on Donnie instead.

Ren and Louis are at the carnival on a Ferris wheel when the ride gets stuck with them at the top. As the two argue, a repairwoman comes climbing up to their bucket and serves as a moderator for their argument. In flashback we see Louis' first days at junior high and how he embarrasses Ren. We also see the early rivalry between Ren and Larry Beale plus Louis' first flirtations with Tawny.

The Lawrence Jr. High baseball team is blowing a big lead and is about to lose the game. Things get so bad Coach Tugnut puts in Twitty, who hasn't pitched all year. Surprisingly, he strikes out the rest of the side and saves the day. At school the next day, Twitty is congratulated by everyone, but Louis talks about him being the star player every one depends on so much that it begins to make him nervous. Now with his confidence shaken, Twitty pitches terribly in the next game while Artie Ryan broadcasts to everyone how he blew it. After the game, Twitty blames Louis and all his talk for his pitching problems.

Twiity is sitting at home depressed when Tawny and Louis come over to help snap him out of it. Tawny suggests ""behavior modification,"" giving Twitty a reward for having good thoughts and giving him a whiff of Louis' old socks for bad ones! It doesn't work, so Tawny asks Louis to bring his brother Donnie over to help. Donnie tells about when he had similar problems and says a trip

Louis arrives late in class to find a huge new transfer student named Lenny sitting in his seat. Louis is scared of the big guy but loans him a pencil when he needs one. The class watches the ""Wombat Report"" featuring Ren's expose on dodge ball. She has film of Coach Tugnut and his sadistic practices plus a medical report from Nelson about the injury risks.

Lenny follows a nervous Louis to the cafeteria, but he's not going to hurt him; rather, he's grateful that Louis was nice to him. Louis asks Lenny to have lunch with him and Twitty, then he boldly goes and sits at the 8th grade table. Normally this would get the 7th graders a pounding, but with Lenny by their side, Louis and Twitty are soon able to order guys like Larry Beale around like they were little kids. Meanwhile Ren meets with an angry Coach Tugnut. There is going to be a referendum on whether or not to keep dodge ball and the Coach promises to fight Ren all the way, enlisting Larry to campaign for him.

Louis and Twitty are

It was a dark and stormy night... just before Halloween as Ren sits and watches a horror movie alone. She gets a terrifying ""I know you're home alone"" call from someone, but it turns out to be Louis, dressed in his penguin jockey outfit.

At school the next day, Ren is the only person not dressed in a Halloween costume. Instead, she is encouraging all the students to get eye examinations, which are being given by Principal Wexler and Coach Tunut, who are looking and acting suspiciously like Dr. Frankenstein and Igor. Meanwhile, Louis has plans for the greatest Halloween prank ever, eyeballs in the turkey gravy. But by lunchtime, his cohorts Tom, Tawny and Twitty have flaked on him. They've all taken the eye exam and are now drinking milk and talking and acting responsibly, like Ren. In fact, everyone now is looking and acting the same way. When they take their dark glasses off--they're missing their eyeballs!

Louis runs down the hall in terror trying to escape, surrounded by zombie-like

Donnie is going to be inducted into the Lawrence Jr. High Wombat Hall of Fame and Louis is getting a little perturbed at his brother because of all the things he gets away with simply because he's an athletic star. His dad ignores his complaints, so Louis plans his own stunt to get even. At the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a choked-up Coach Tugnut introduces Donnie and tells him that the Texas State University football coach Specs Richardson is on his way to Sacramento right now with plans to offer Donnie a full athletic scholarship. Donnie is set to demonstrate his title-winning gymnastics routine on the pommel horse. Louis has tampered with the horse, though, and when Donnie gets on, it bucks like a mechanical bull. Donnie is thrown high in the air and lands hard on the ground, as Louis and Twitty look on in shock.

Meanwhile, Ren is fed up with Beans (who seems to be at the Stevens house all the time) and his practical jokes and uncivilized behavior. But she soon gets frustrated

Even though she's burning up with fever, Ren still wants to go to school so she can qualify for a perfect attendance award, but her mom Eileen won't let her. Louis tries to fake illness to avoid Coach Tugnut's fitness test, but his dad Steve is not fooled. Ren is in bed with Mr. Pookie watching a musical. A big puff of steam comes from the humidifier and...

Ren is at school after all, but when she comes in the office she gets a big surprise--Principal Wexler is singing the ""Morning Announcements,"" complete with a troupe of dancing students! She sees Louis, Twitty and Tawny in the hall. Louis is still looking to get out of gym class, and he and his friends start singing and dancing to the song ""I Always Find a Way."" Ren meets Ruby and Nelson for lunch. They remind her that her science presentation is due today in 6th period. Ren has forgotten all about it and isn't prepared. But Larry Beale is--and he intends to win the science medal with his presentation. While Ren stumbles around tryi

Loius and Tawny are having lunch together at school when she says that she's got something in her eye. Louis takes a close look--and unexpectedly kisses her! Both of them sit there stunned when Ren comes along and snaps them out of it by taking Tawny off for a costume fitting for the play she's writing and directing. Louis tells Twitty about the kiss, but says he doesn't know what Tawny's reaction was. Twitty goes to the play rehearsal to try and find out. Tawny tells him to have Louis meet her the next morning by her locker. Meanwhile, Coach Tugnut, the unlikely theatre advisor, tells Ren her play about Abigail and John Adams is deadly dull and needs to be spiced up.

The next day Louis waits for Tawny nervously, but she surprises him by saying she'd like to be his girlfriend! The happy couple walk off hand-in-hand. At home, the Stevens family is watching an old romance movie on TV which gives Ren the idea to give her play a more romantic theme. Donnie is concerned the the movie didn't

Louis badly wants a set of drums he's seen in a pawn shop window, but his parents say that he (and they) have accumulated too much junk that just sits around the house. Louis proposes they have a garage sale. Steve and Eileen go for the idea and tell their son he can buy the drums if they make enough money. Meanwhile, Ren is apprehensive about Scott Brooks coming by to be her ""study date,"" and Ruby is there to help get the two together. While the three are studying, Ren's favorite stuffed animal from her childhood, Mr. Pookie, gets mistakenly included with the items to be sold at the yard sale. The sale is successful--even Donnie's old unwashed uniforms and cleats are bought by Coach Tugnut. But when Scott leaves, Ren looks for Mr. Pookie, who was hidden away during the study date. She can't find him, and her mom breaks the bad news to her: he was sold at the yard sale!

Ren accepts the news maturely at first, but later she finds out from Ruby that Scott has gone back to his old girlfri

Louis and Twitty are indulging in their favorite new pastime--playing in the defective packaging material dump--when Twitty spies Allison Wong, a girl he has a crush on. Louis encourages him to talk to her, and he does. Allison seems to like Twitty too, and they make plans for later. At school Principal Wexler and Coach Tugnut host the dedication of a new rock-climbing wall named after Donnie. Tawny and Louis notice Twitty and Allison in the audience looking mighty cozy. Louis tricks Ren into competing against Donnie in a rock-climbing demonstration. Amazingly, Ren wins. Donnie says nothing but is upset. At lunch, Twitty brings Allison to the table with Louis, Tawny and Tom. The new couple are obviously getting very close and Louis is beginning to feel frozen out. Later Louis is happy when Twitty drops by his house--until he sees Allison with him. Louis can't find anything for the three of them to do together and Twitty and Allison leave, acting like lovebirds. Also at the Stevens hous

In the form of a ""rockumentary"" directed by that noted filmmaker Tom Gribalski, we witness the ups and downs of the Twitty-Stevens Connection, the rock band featuring Alan Twitty on guitar, Louis Stevens on drums, Ren Stevens on vocals, Tawny Dean on keyboards and Artie Ryan on bass, who is replaced by another bass guitarist--would you believe Beans? The rest of the Stevens family is delighted and amazed to find that Ren and Louis are actually getting along and working together as songwriters. But a problem soon arises. Louis comes up with an idea for a rooftop concert to be given at the school, a la the Beatles and U2, even though Principal Wexler will not give permission for it. Ren won't go along with the idea, leading to a big argument between her and Louis, and she quits the band over the dispute.

Louis pushes ahead with his idea and the group manage to sneak their equipment onto the roof past Mr. Wexler and Coach Tugnut. But one by one the nervous band members drop out of the pro

Twitty has broken up with his girlfriend Allison, but he says things are OK between them and they are still friends. Louis is surprised, though, when Allison starts giving him ""the eye"" right away. Louis tells Tawny about this. She's very skeptical, and bluntly asks Allison if she's been checking out Louis. Tawny is surprised when Allison say yes, ""I like his look."" Louis is even more surprised when Allison asks him to meet her at a local park with a reputation as a place to make out. Louis is confused about what to do. He's concerned how his best friend Twitty will react to himself and Allison as a couple so soon after breaking up with her. His conflicting emotions are played out in his head in the form of a couple of old guys sitting around in a deli talking!

Despite his fears, Louis tells Twitty he can't hang out after school and goes to the park to meet Allison. But when she asks Louis to put on a bathing suit she's brought along, he stops her, saying that this is all wrong and he'

Principal Wexler gives his student assistant Ren the task of investigating a new organization at school called the ""Lumberjack Club."" It seems that Louis got fifty signatues on a petition, allowing him to get $218 from the school to start a new club. Ren finds out it's what she expected: Louis is pulling another scam. The only purpose of the Lumberjack Club is to provide Louis, Twitty, Tawny and Tom with lots of pancakes and high-quality syrup!

Ren is ecstatic when she finds that Principal Wexler has given her a desk of her own right outside her office, with a nameplate and all the works. But she's not so happy when she ends up doing all of Wexler's work while he goes out riding in his new car. When Wexler tells her she must fire the school's old janitor, she puts her foot down, saying she won't to the principal's dirty work for him. An argument ensues, and Ren quits her job as student assistant. But right away she misses being out of the action, so she goes back to apologize, only to

Tawny, Twitty and Tom wait for Louis, who they are supposed to meet in the gym. To their great surprise, they find out that he's a member of the school's diving team! But when Louis does his first dive in competition, it's a ragged cannonball that splashes about half the water out of the pool, to the crowd's great amusement. Meanwhile, Ruby has the early word on who is going to win in the class favorites voting. Ren is set to sweep the big awards, but when she hears that another girl, Kelly, is ahead in the ""Best Smile"" voting, it brings out her competitive nature and she determines to win that award too.

When Louis comes home late, he doesn't want to tell his parents where he's been, but Ren spils the beans about him being on the diving team. Steve and Eileen are delighted at this news. Ren works on her smile that night and the next day at school she and Kelly are involved in a big ""smile-down."" At Louis' next diving meet, his dad brings along his boss Mr. Kupchek to see his son. But

As the Stevens family watches the television anxiously on election night, Eileen is declared the winner of a seat in the United States House of Representatives! This means big--and immediate--changes for everyone, as the family makes hasty plans to move to Washington, D.C. On Louis' last day of school, he and Twitty are sorry to be parted, of course, but neither seems quite as upset as Tom, who's nearly in tears. When it comes time to say goodbye to Tawny, she and Louis awkwardly grope for the right words to say. Louis is on the verge of telling her that he'll miss her, but instead says he'll miss the cafeteria's chili fries!

Ren, Ruby and Monique aren't having any trouble expressing themselves, however; all three girls are upset. True to her usual efficient self, though, Ren goes out and finds a new best friend for her two mates. Her name is Denise, and she's a virtual clone of Ren! Meanwhile when Donnie tells Coach Tugnut he's leaving town, the news sends the coach into a catatonic