 Gabe Kotter returns to his Brooklyn-based alma-mater, James Buchanan High School, to teach a group of misfits called the Sweathogs. The Sweathogs were a group of supposedly unteachable, under-achieving and incorrigible students. The core of Sweathogs were Vinnie Barbarino, the group s wisecracking leader; Juan Epstien, a Jewish Puerto Rican; dimwitted Arnold Horshack; and streetwise Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington. Gabe at one time a Sweathog himself had to try to reach out to these students by relating his own experiences to the students, but was often hindered in his efforts by Buchanan s cantankerous vice-principal, Michael Woodman. Gabe and his wife, Julie, shared an apartment near the school. Gabe became a father in 1977 when Julie gave birth to twin girls. By 1978, Vinnie graduated from high school (John Travolta by this time had become a major movie star), and a new Sweathog Beau DeLabarre, who had been expelled from seven other high schools enrolled at Buchanan. Julie also became a teacher at the school.