History teacher Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren) is a real nightmare who tries to humiliate her students every chance she gets. Almost everybody in school hates her because of this. One of the students, Leigh Ann (Katie Holmes), is frequently targeted by Mrs. Tingle and risks loosing her college scholarship. Things turn for the worst when Mrs. Tingle finds a stolen exam paper in Leigh Ann's purse. Despite the fact that Mrs. Tingle knows that Leigh Ann could not be involved in this, she is determined to ruin Leigh Ann's promising future. When Leigh Ann and two of her firends try to convince Mrs. Tingle to change her mind, things spiral out of control. A way back seems impossibele for the threesome.