Summer session is in full swing at the elite Dartmoor Academy. With classes like opera appreciation, it's no wonder that Domino, Loaf, Lucy, Sonny and Witz, an imaginative group of 7-year-old scholarship students, are yearning for a little excitement. Unfortunately, all attempts at summertime fun are spoiled by their stuffy, overbearing principal Morgan Brinway. After a mishap involving a self-made "rocketchair" and an attempt at aviation, the five youngsters (branded "The Stinkers" by Mr Brinway) are threatened with expulsion if he catches them again. On a boaring field trip to an aquarium, the stinkers manage to sneak away in search of adventure and find it in Slappy, a 100-pound sea lion who seem none too thrilled with life at the theme park. The group decides that if one kid can "free Willy," five can certainly free Slappy.