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 graduated. Ernest never did. Ernest has two choices as a result: Redo grade twelve at the school with regular courses and potentially graduate, or lose his job. 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.