Imagine J.R. Ewing at the age of 14. That's Matthew Burton. Imagine Matthew Burton 20 years on. That's Norman Lamb. When Norman moves into the apartment across the hall and takes a shine to Mrs Burton, Matthew moves into action with a fiendish opening gambit. Will it soon be checkmate, or has Matthew finally met his match?

In a rare righteous moment, Matt assures his friend Eli of a date with Julie to the Harvest Ball. Julie has no intention of dating 'this lower life-form', forcing Matt into his bag of tricks to save face.

For the first time in his young life, con-artist Matt meets resistance to his devious courting strategies, which are complicated by some clever monkey business from his new neighbour, Norman.

Matt is determined to break up his mother's and Norman's relationship and hits on a scheme guaranteed to drive Norman into a jealous rage - a trait his mother despises in men.

The band Matt and Eli put together for the school dance creates an impression that is out of this world, and trouble that leaves the boys' bones ratling.

The apparant success of Matt and Eli's ""band"" hits a snag when various money-hungry lowlifes sue the nonexistant group for 25 million dollars. In order to save face, Matt and Norman collaborate on a way to kill-off the band by driving Norman's new car off a cliff and scattering the band's clothing around the scene of the accident.