Twenty years ago, Gregory (John Gordon-Sinclair) was first unleashed on the world in Bill Forsyth’s first film Gregory’s Girl. Hailing from Cumbernauld, a Scottish new town, Gregory was a gauche and charming young man, who was particularly luckless in the dating department.  His unrequited passion for a football-mad schoolgirl found some release in his fertile, but mostly imaginary, sex life.

That was 1979.  This is 1999.  Life, and love, has changed for Gregory.  Or has it?

Gregory is now 35, and back at his old school, in the position of teacher.  His subject is English, but his real classroom passion is politics - or rather, political injustice and the corruption of governments and big business the world over, but especially in America.

Not all his pupils share his high idealism - some just want to go to America on holiday. One exception is Frances (Carly McKinnon), a particularly bright and (Greg can't help noting) very attractive female pupil.  Frances wants to translate Greg's political ideals into action, and urges him to join forces with her through a series of secret meetings.  This becomes further torture for Greg, who's suffering a major crush on his pupil - and one he knows he cannot dare to consolidate in his position as her teacher.

Guessing at Greg's forbidden feelings, his Calvinistic headmaster (John Murtagh), reminds him that although it may be human for male teachers to be tempted, to give in would mean the garrotte. And, he adds, Greg would be totally mad or blind to ignore the sexual advances of the gorgeous Bel (Maria Doyle Kennedy) a fellow teacher who's more Greg's equal in age and status, and more than his match in sex appeal.

Everyone can see Bel fancies Greg but in spite of Bel's suggestions, Greg still can't quite commit and remains trapped, tantalizingly, between his two 'girls'. Which one should he choose - the forbidden fruit of nubile teenager, or full-blooded woman?

Greg is anyway soon catapulted into a mad adventure with Frances.  Along with a fellow pupil, Doug, she has uncovered evil practices at the factory of Fraser Rowan (Dougray Scott). Fraser is a former schoolpal of Greg's, who left Cumbernauld to make his fortune in America (of all places) and has come back to start a computer business, employing hundreds of local people to make him more millions.  He's even sponsored a brand new football team (American, naturally), replete with Pom-Pom girls at their old school, making him the toast of the town.

But underground sources suggest that Fraser is secretly manufacturing electronic devices, or sound machines, which can hurt, stun and cause heart seizures, and which he is said to be exporting to the Third World.  Frances and Doug want Greg to get them jobs at the factory, so they can infiltrate and expose Fraser as the venal capitalist their teacher has taught them to despise.

In fact, Fraser has already offered Greg a job and, like the eternal control freak, has showered him with expensive electronic gadgets (which do nothing for Greg's technophobia) in order to buy his friendship. But, Greg asks, could his friend Fraser really be an evil bastard as well as a sad one?

As the plot thickens, Greg finds himself caught between his armchair idealism - the safety of his classroom soapbox - and the real danger (and thrill) of breaking the law to stop the rot. He's warned against upsetting the nasty big boys without proper back-up, by Jon (Kevin Anderson), the American fiancé of his sister Mad (Fiona Bell). In spite of his anti-US stance, Greg is impressed by Jon's humanity ("a thinking, feeling Yank, and my sister finds him," he says), as well as his contacts at the UN, and intimate knowledge of Noam Chomsky, one of his all-time heroes.

Soon Greg's beliefs face the ultimate test: he meets Dimitri (Martin Schwab) a real-life human civil rights activist who is the mystery man he saw in town. Dimitri, whom Greg had read about in one his political magazines, is also investigating Fraser and his covert activities. Inspired into action by this new friendship, Greg finds himself falling headlong with Frances - into a plot to break into Rowan's factory and steal the torture devices.

But the police, not to mention Frances's protective dad, are none too happy about this new teacher/pupil alliance, and are onto their case. Finally, Greg finds he must confront an electric situation, in which both Frances and Bel plead with him to do the dirty deed with them - albeit two deeds of a very different nature. Which girl is going to win Greg's heart...?