Plot summary

Jim McAllister is arguably the students' most well-liked teacher at George Washington Carver High School in Omaha, it in turn a job he loves. He can admit to himself that one student he does not much like is Tracy Flick, an overachiever who believes she is entitled to any honor to which she applies. In focusing all her energies on those achievements, Tracy may have admirers but no real friends. In turn, she probably does not think much about Mr. McAllister beyond what he can do for her in reaching her goals. Jim's feeling for Tracy are only exacerbated by a situation involving her that led to his friend and fellow teacher Dave Novotny's resignation, Jim thus knowing that she is not the ethically pristine person she likes to portray herself as being. So when Tracy looks to run unopposed as student council president, another one of those positions to which she feels she is entitled, Jim, in being the council's faculty advisor, recruits one of the more popular students, slightly naive Paul Metzler, who is at a suggestable stage of life in an injury ending his sporting pursuits which were the center of his school world, to run against Tracy, he with a strong possibility of winning due to his popularity despite truly not being president material. What happens with this collective and the election is affected by issues happening in Jim's own personal life which in some respects are fueled by the situation with Tracy, and an unexpected issue arising with the election purely in Jim having chosen specifically Paul as that second candidate.—Huggo