Old friends Lauren Fontaine, Winnie Barnes and Bobby Lazzarini (all Americans) are reunited with Christian Mueller (German) and Ashley Elliot (English) as a new school year begins for them at the American School in Paris, France. All of the students are away from their parents except Ashley, whose father is headmaster at the school. They all live together in a suite for six, with the girls' room on one side, the boys' on the other and a large common room in between. This year there is a new roommate, Jackson Green, another American. At first Jackson does not fit in well at the Academy or with his new suitemates and he wants to leave the school. But he finds a couple of causes worth fighting for: getting rid of school uniforms and making Lauren his girlfriend.

Mr. Elliot is entered in a road race which will pit him against Ms. Dupre, a beautiful young Frenchwoman who teaches at the Academy and is the secret heartthrob of the headmaster, who is a single parent. Lauren, who admires Mr. Elliot's Aston-Martin, agrees to go out with Jackson if he can get use of the car, which he does without Mr. Elliot's knowledge. But when Jackson lets Lauren take a spin behind the wheel, she drives it into the Seine. Jackson need to come up with money for repairs, so he plans to throw a rave to raise the cash.

Mr. Eliot is on a cleanliness kick, demanding all students clean up their rooms. Winnie's father, meanwhile, sends her a credit card. The shopaholic Winnie quickly runs up a huge bill, so Jackson comes up with a solution to help her pay it off: start a cleaning service for hire to other students. But when the boys clean Ms. Dupre's apartment, they come upon her next French test, complete with the answers.

Paul, Lauren's boyfriend from the previous school year, arrives back in the city and the sparks begin to fly once again between the two. This inspires a fit of jealousy in Jackson and he starts spying on the couple. Also, Winnie meets Prince Nicholas of ""Lichtenberg,"" who is enamored with her and asks her on a date. But before she goes, Ashley, Mr. Elliot and Ms. Dupre give Winnie lessons on the proper way to act around royalty.

Winnie is down because her boyfriend Giuseppe will not be in Paris for her birthday, so the gang tries to cheer her up by playing a favorite game of hers, ""Truth or Dare."" Lazz is the only one who choose ""truth""--he reveals he uses ""ladies' deodorant!"" The others all take Winnie up on her dares--Christian must hang the school banner from the Eiffel Tower, Ashley must anger her father Mr. Elliot, and Jackson and Lauren must kiss. Meanwhile, Mr. Elliot is thrilled at the prospect of a romantic dinner date with Ms. Dupre, but he has difficulty getting a reservation at the Eiffel Tower restaurant.