The Pazinski Family has a lot of emotion brewing in their cramped apartment above Chet's Bar & Grill. It's the Eisenhower years when everything is quiet and orderly.

Enter Rudy, a smart, wise-cracking 12 year old, starting to question family values and the Catholic Catechism. Inevitably, Rudy must match wits with Sister Clarissa's wooden ruler. When Rudy announces that he'd rather shop around for a more fun religion, all hell breaks loose.