Cindy Cathcart is a student out of place at an exclusive Swiss finishing school, Von Pupsin Academy. A poor orphan, Cindy is attending on a scholarship, and is resented by her snobby peers as well as Fraulein Stinkenschmidt. She soon finds allies: her British roommate, an outgoing Texan, Lulu Belle, an Italian Mafiosi's daughter, Isabella, and most crucial, the school's headmistress, Countess Von Pupsin.