Romance blooms at Phillips Junior High when teacher Art Malamud, the schools union rep, meets Mandy Sayer, the newest member of the faculty. As the school year progresses, Art leads his colleagues in the historic Los Angeles teachers strike of 1970 and stokes the ire of the principal, Vivian Laws. Though Art has tenure and relative immunity from Lawss personal attacks, Mandy does not. As a result, she receives an unfair evaluation of her first years work and even harsher criticism at the start of her second. Mandys local grievance leads to a major battle with the school district, and the injustice ends up threatening not only her professional life but her future with Art as well.