High school senior Shaun Brumder finds out one day that there's more to life than surfing and sunning in California's Orange County. A friend's freak surfing accident causes Shaun to seriously reassess his life. As he does so, he finds, buried in the sand, a copy of Marcus Skinner's novel, "Straight Jacket." By the time he's done reading the book, Shaun realizes that his destiny is to become a writer. After hitting the books hard, raising his SAT scores and honing his skills as a writer, Shaun has high hopes of getting into Stanford University and studying with his literary hero. However, his dreams are shattered when he finds out that he has been rejected by the university. A little investigating uncovers a big mistake -- the SAT scores sent to Stanford were not Shaun's but those of the worst student in his high school. Can Shaun convince university officials that he belongs at their school before the application deadline comes to a close in the next 24 hours?