Danny Gordon's delight at starting university takes a serious knock-back when he realises he'll be joined by the cheerily obnoxious and thick-skinned Shane McKay, 'the worst best friend anyone could have' when they were at school. He ends up sharing accommodations with Shane and the introverted Fred. Danny falls for the comely Becky and is anxious to impress her with, for example, conflated stories about being a volunteer in a leper colony. Thanks to Shane, Danny ends up posing nude for her art class.

The students' accommodation is condemned so Scarlet and the boys transfer into a block that reminds Fred of death, with a faulty lift and the hideously jolly bongo player Keith as a neighbour. Danny apologizes to Scarlet for making a show of himself over Becky and they agree to be 'mates'. A sultry third-year girl invites Shane and Danny to a hip-hop party where Shane lands his long-suffering friend in it once more by passing him off as an expert rapper and encouraging him to spout offensive lyrics.

Danny has a photography project on the subject of Female Beauty, which he hopes will impress visiting lensman Johnny Cantor, but Shane junks his photos with the rubbish after they're left on the floor. Following an unfortunate misunderstanding in which he's caught hiding in a locker whilst some girls are changing, he takes some shots of Scarlet without her knowledge and these are projected, blind, at the exhibition. Everybody is impressed – until they see that Shane has left equally embarrassing photos among them.

By some miracle, a pair of German exchange students, sisters Fleur and Flugengraft, find Shane's jokes amusing so he asks them on a double date with Danny but the lads have no money. At Fred's suggestion, they act as paid guinea pigs testing pills for the chemistry department but the side effects are halitosis, belching, flatulence, turning green and passing out — all of which occur on the date.

When sinister tokens are left around the flat, Scarlet and the boys suspect their rarely glimpsed and mysterious roommate 'Weird Bloke'. Despite this, they press on with a fancy Halloween party but 'Weird Bloke' ruins this as well, setting off the smoke alarm and driving the guests away. The flatmates decide to confront him once and for all... and are in for a shock!

Not only does 'Weird Bloke', whose real name is Wendy, take a shine to Danny but gormless Shane has put him forward to stand as First Year Student President, with no manifesto. His opponent is the well-prepared Figaro, with Scarlet as his running mate. Thanks to 'Weird Bloke' putting a hex on Figaro, Danny wins the election, but he will not upset Scarlet by cheating, as she gratefully acknowledges as he allows himself to be disqualified.

Danny is producing his own television show as an end of term project. Fred and Scarlet are appearing but not The Pussycat Dolls, since Shane forgot to give Danny their message. Instead, there's Shane's manic friend Tony, who is somehow more annoying than Shane himself and almost ruins the show with his dreadful jokes and betrayal of Scarlet's secret. The show is saved but Scarlet just wants to be friends. Danny's mum comes to take him home but can he really abandon Shane to a lonely vacation?