At school, there are the good students... and then there's Gustave. As much as he'd like to bring news of his good grades back home to his mother, more often than not he brings news of yet another visit to the head teacher's office. Yet Gustave spends more time on his homework than most of his comrades. But unlike Josephine, his big sister, who's top of her class, Gustave just doesn't make the grade. After being told time and again that he's good-for-nothing, Gustave ends up believing it. Little does he know that one chance encounter can change the course of his life.