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.
The school's Carnival Costume Ball is coming up and Jackson's dad has set him up with a blind date. Surprisingly, though, Jackson actually wants to go out with this girl. But Lauren has already decided on costumes that she and Jackson will wear when they go together. Jackson attempts to juggle both girls and costumes at the dance, with predictable results. Meanwhile, Christian's affection for Winnie is growing, as he asks her to go to the Ball with him in Princess Diana's wedding dress! Also, Bobby Lazzarini gets a last-minute date, Ashley has no such luck, and Mr. Elliot is too busy to attend despite the fact that Ms. Dupre is planning to wear a sexy Catwoman outfit!
Mr. Elliot is making Ashley's love life difficult by scaring off all potential dates, until Chad comes along and she finally gets to go out. But then she finds out her father the headmaster paid Chad (or Bernie, his real name) to take her out. To get back at him, Ashley pretends to be going out with Lazzarini, which drives Mr. Elliot crazy. Also, Christian blew $400 that was supposed to go toward a ski trip on ski clothes for himself. To replace the funds, he and Jackson enter a contest sponsored by Ms. Dupre in which the winner will cater a faculty dinner. Their competition includes Lauren and Winnie.
The guys can't get any phone time with the girls always on the suite's one line. Rather than pay for another phone, the boys try to wire up their own line. It turns out that they rig up a duplicate line so they can eavesdrop on the girls' private conversations. Jackson uses this inside knowledge to his advantage with Lauren. Also, Winnie and Ashley try to relocate the ""hunky"" pizza delivery guy they saw before and Mr. Elliot and Ms. Dupre work together on a fundraiser.
Lazz is chatting in an online romance with a girl named Melanie. She sends her picture and Lazz is shocked to see that she's gorgeous. Nervous about her beauty, he sends her a picture of Jackson. When Melanie makes a surprise visit, it sparks confusion so the gang helps Lazz impress her. Melanie falls in love with Lazz who is still pretending to be Jackson. Lazz tells Melanie the truth. She is furious with him for lying and storms off. Lazz writes her an apology but is too nervous to send it, so Jackson sends it for him. Melanie reads it and is so touched that she forgives Lazz, but she has some sad news--she's due to fly back to Colorado. Lazz and Melanie agree to keep in contact over the internet. Meanwhile, Ashley developes her mother's snoring problems.
Christian is in danger of failing Ms. Dupre's history class. He must get at least a ""B"" on the next test or he will kicked off the basketball team. The guys convince Winnie to tutor Christian and to her great surprise, she finds that she's attracted to him. Also, Lazz does such a good job of cutting Ashley's hair that he and Jackson start their own hair-styling business. But business starts to go sour after they accidentally turn Lauren's hair green!
Through Jackson, Lauren gets a modeling job with renowned fashion photographer Derek Donovan. But Jackson may have cause to regret it when Lauren appears to be on the verge of a career as a model which will take her away from the Academy. Meanwhile, Winnie and Ashley try selling ""Broadway Girl"" cosmetics. At first they can't sell a thing, then they recruit Christian as a salesman. Suddenly women can't get enough of their product.
Jackson's father, a successful businessman, comes to visit at the school and he's not happy when his son tells him he plans to pursue a musical career. Dad threatens to pull Jackson out of the Academy if he doesn't give up the idea. The other roommates hold a yard sale. They sell an old painting to the school librarian Mr. Macafee, then find out it might be a valuable family heirloom of Mr. Elliot's.
Lauren's work schedule at the USA Cafe, where she works part-time as a waitress, is cutting into Jackson's time with her, so he gets a job there himself as a waiter. Mr. Elliot also looks to spend more time with Ms. Dupre after joining her book club, but he's taking shortcuts by watching movie versions of the books he's supposed to read. The other suitemates are all nervous wrecks after viewing a horror film.
Lauren has an important piano recital coming up, one that could possibly get her into a prestigious music conservatory. Jackson, once again scheming to get close to Lauren, arranges a date between Ashley and Lauren's page turner, hoping to snare the job himself. Meanwhile, Mr. Elliot's deluxe model vibrating chair is mistakenly delivered to the students' flat. They love its effect so much that they hide it from Elliot.
Winnie's long-absent boyfriend Giuseppe has come back to town. Trouble is, Winnie has neglected to tell him about her new boyfriend Christian. She tries to keep the ex- and current boyfriends in the dark about each other, a plan that is doomed to failure. Also, Lazz and Jackson set up a satellite dish which Mr. Elliot is adamant about having removed--that is, until Ms. Dupre expresses interest in seeing a particular program.
Lazz discovers the school's old abandoned radio station and soon he and Jackson have it in operation again. Their most popular effort is an advice show, ""Doctor Romance,"" whose unwitting listeners include Mr. Elliot. Also, Winnie makes an effort to rein in something that comes natural to her--insults directed at Christian.
Lazzarini is not happy when his career aptitude test shows him to be cut out for an elevator operator's job. But he perks up when an agent thinks he has comedic talent and books him into a comedy club on amateur night. The rest of the gang is not so sure about Lazz's act, though, and he doesn't take kindly to their constructive criticisms. Meanwhile, Ashley kidnaps the chimpanzee from the school's lab with an eye toward liberating him.
Jackson has a date with Lauren. Unfortunately it's for the opera! Lauren has an old friend, Wallace ""the Whale"" who is in Paris now, so Jackson thinks that by letting Wallace takes Lauren to the opera, he can watch the football game that he wants to. But Wallace turns out to be a handsome West Point graduate who has lost all the weight that gave him his nickname. Lauren finds herself attracted to him like never before.
Ursula, a new female student from Germany, arrives at the Academy and asks Christian to show her around. This arouses Winnie's jealousy, and for good reason--Ursula has designs on Christian. Also, a thief has broken into the dorm and Lazzarini has devised a security system to catch him.
In Ms. Dupre's drama class, Jackson and Ashley have to kiss for a scene. While practicing the exercise, they find they really enjoy it! But the two soon realize that even though they have a great physical attraction for each other, they may not be right for a more serious relationship. Meanwhile, Christian doesn't want to go to the dentist for his painful toothache, and after he's sent to ""Dr. Giggles,"" it looks like his apprehension may have been justified.
Headmaster Patrick Elliot's brother Nigel arrives upon the scene, prompting a renewal of their sibling rivalry. Mr. Elliot promised the gang to get them ""Lollapalooza"" tickets, and when he doesn't deliver, Nigel claims he can obtain them. Also, Lauren joins the fencing team and wounds Jackson's ego by defeating him. He quickly demands a rematch.
Jackson meets Katherine Hanley, a pretty girl who he doesn't realize at first is blind. They hit it off and start to date. But Jackson gets scared when his feelings for Katherine grow very strong, and he backs away from her, leaving Katherine to wonder if it's her blindness that is driving him away.
Bobby Lazzarini has been dumped by yet another girlfriend, and his teacher Ms. Dupre offers him her sympathies. But Lazz misinterprets the actions of Ms. Dupre, who is his real heartthrob, and concludes that she's in love with him! Also, Jackson has an important audition before an agent, and he recruits Ashley and Winnie as back-up singers. Unfortunately, Lauren wants to make it a trio. Her terrible singing threatens Jackson's chances for success, but no one knows how to tell her the awful truth without seriously hurting her feelings.
Ashley, who always seems unlucky in love, concocts a fictional boyfriend when she talks to Lauren and Winnie, but she soon finds a real one--a free-spirited biker and artist named Steel. The girls and Mr. Elliot don't approve, but that just drives Ashley closer to him. Meanwhile, the boys suspect that the ""Shapely Shoplifter"" who has been victimizing Paris jewelry stores is in fact Ms. Dupre!
Jackson gets up the courage to tell Katherine that he loves her, but it looks like he may be too late--she's leaving the Academy and going to Chicago to enter a renowned school there for the blind. Meanwhile Winnie and Lauren come up with a moneymaking scheme, a calendar featuring the schools' hunks. They recruit Christian and Lazz as models, but when the calendar comes out and Christian's on-campus popularity skyrockets, Winnie has a hard time with her jealously--and so does Christian!
Lazzarini's younger sister Niki arrives in Paris from New York and brother Bobby is happy to see her. The girls try to be friendly by taking her shopping and giving her a makeover which turns the tomboyish girl in to quite an attractive young woman. But Bobby can't handle the fact that his sister is not the same little girl he knew before, and when she starts showing a romantic interest in Jackson, Lazz goes ballistic. Meanwhile, Ms. Dupre admires the hunky P.E. teacher Mr. Jergens for running in a charity race, so the decidedly less-athletic Mr. Elliot enlists the aid of Christian to help him train for the same race.
Lauren is to go on a ski trip with Wallace, but before she can leave, Jackson throws his back out trying to lift one of her suitcases. Feeling responsible for his injury, Lauren cancels the trip and stays home to minister to Jackson, who takes full advantage of the situation. Also, Christian comes up with an exercise device which the gang hopes to turn into big bucks. To that end, they begin producing their own infomercial.
Jackson's newest girlfriend is Simone, a French girl who offers to tutor the struggling Lazzarini in her native language. While working together, the two click and they start going out, causing serious problems for the friendship of Jackson and Lazz. Meanwhile, Christian is mired in a horrible slump on the basketball court. Ashley believes that Christian's problems all stem from his dating Winnie, so his girlfriend gives up dating him to try and restore his game.
Jackson is reacquainted with his childhood friend Tiffani Gleason, who is now a famous TV star. The two of them begin going out, but Jackson finds it difficult to deal with the world of celebrity Tiffani now inhabits. Starstruck Lazzarini, for his part, finds it difficult to even speak a coherent sentence when Tiffani is around. The three girls, meanwhile, battle each other for the title of Fall Ball Queen, and the results aren't pretty.
With Mr. Elliot and Ms. Dupre out of town, the gang comes up with a moneymaking scheme: turning the dorm into a bed & breakfast inn. Their first guests are a load of tourists from Texas. Also, Lauren looks for a way to break off her relationship with Wallace.