A brilliant student with a good business - an auto body shop - wants to quit school. He challenges Novak to give him a good reason for continuing his education.
Mike Daniels is being considered for an important science scholarship, but he's having problems in Novak's literature class. Dr. Frank Baxter, TV educator, appears as Dr. Gagan.
Novak helps a former teacher and mentor obtain a position at the school. The instructor is a recovering alcoholic, while his much-younger wife is still afflicted with the disease.
Maude Phipps, a teacher for some 40 years, is sharply outspoken and is the object of various complaints -- including those of irate parents who don't like the idea of her teaching social hygiene to their children.
Novak invites a famous novelist to address the school's Literary Club - despite protests of Miss Pagano who feels that the writer's unorthodox views will be a bad influence.