Alice and David Chaplin relocate to a gated luxury housing complex where social standing is paramount. Queen Bee Ffion, who greets her daughter in French even in shops, sets the snobbish standard, and Alice is horrified by parents' eagerness to enroll their girls in the prestigious Chelsea college rather than the hated local comprehensive school. Sarah McDonald even obtains employment as a school secretary in order to remain near to the activity. The fact is that Alice's daughter Molly is not an intellectual, having earned a meager 38% on her Chelsea mock run entrance exam. Alice panics, fearful for her daughter's future as a prostitute, and decides to imitate Molly and take the exam herself.