 Bailey starts college at Berkeley and meets a new friend, named Cooper, who already has him taking short cuts his first few days on campus. Meanwhile, Julia, Justin, and Sarah are grouped together when they enter an essay contest hoping that by winning the prize they will boost their chances of getting into a good college next year. Also, Kirsten s professor discovers that she has unintentionally plagiarized part of her dissertation, and risks losing her teaching position and everything else.