Charlie Bartlett has been kicked out of every private school he ever attended. And now that he's moved on to public school, he's simply getting pummeled. But, when Charlie discovers that the kids who surround him--the outcast and the popular alike--are secretly in desperate need, his entrepreneurial spirit takes over. Hanging up his shingle in the boys' restroom, Charlie becomes an underground, not to mention under-aged, shrink who listens to the private confessions of his schoolmates and makes the imprudent decision to hand out the pills he's proffered from his own psychiatric sessions. Meanwhile, at home, Charlie keeps charming his way out of an inevitable confrontation with his adoring but utterly overwhelmed mother, Marilyn. Then, Charlie Bartlett makes his big mistake: falling in love with the beautiful and bold daughter of the school's increasingly disenchanted Principal, who is hot on his trail. As Charlie Bartlett's world and fledgling psychiatric practice unravel, he begins to discover there's a whole lot more to making a difference than handing out pills.