Trama

A tough cop must pose as a kindergarten teacher in order to locate a dangerous criminal's ex-wife, who may hold the key to putting him behind bars.

After numerous fruitless attempts, the veteran LAPD Detective, John Kimble, has one last chance to put behind bars once and for all the elusive drug kingpin, Cullen Crisp, who is trying to find the whereabouts of his son and his ex-wife who run away with millions of dollars. In high hopes of picking up clues, the massive officer finds himself at a bustling elementary school in Astoria, Oregon, posing as a substitute kindergarten teacher; however, to keep up the ruse without blowing his cover, John must keep under control a noisy classroom full of intimidating five-year-old adversaries. Can Kimble show them who's boss?—Nick Riganas

John Kimble is a tough city cop who's been on the trail of drug dealer Cullen Crisp for years. He finally tracks Crisp down but it seems the only person that can testify against him is his ex-wife. The problem is she's disappeared and all Kimble knows is the name of the school in Oregon where her son attends. When things don't quite go to plan, Kimble finds he has to go undercover on his toughest assignment yet - Kindergarten teacher!—Col Needham <col@imdb.com>

After years of pursuing drug dealer Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson), Los Angeles Police Detective John Kimble (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has him on a murder charge after Crisp shot and killed an informant named Danny who had given him information regarding the whereabouts of his ex-wife, Rachel Myatt Crisp (Penelope Ann Miller), and his son Cullen Jr (Christian and Joseph Cousins). Danny told Crisp that he saw Rachel and Cullen Jr at Astoria Elementary School in Astoria, Oregon. After killing Danny in a mall, Crisp disposes of the murder weapon and joins his mother at a salon, where Kimble arrests him.

Crisp claims that Rachel stole $3 million from him, before fleeing with his son Cullen Crisp Jr, and obtaining new identities for them.

However, the only witness, a drug-addicted girl named Cindy (Alix Koromzay), the informant's girlfriend who was hidden at the time of the murder, is deemed too unreliable to put Crisp up for a permanent prison charge as she changes her mind about testifying, so Rachel Myatt has to be found and persuaded to testify. But Kimble pressurizes her to identify Crisp from a line-up and on that basis, Crisp is remanded to judicial custody. From Cindy, Kimble finds Rachel's location that Danny gave Crisp.

Kimble, accompanied by Detective Phoebe O'Hara (Pamela Reed), a former teacher, go undercover in Astoria, Oregon, to find Crisp's ex-wife Rachel. It is believed that Rachel stole millions of dollars from Crisp before fleeing. The detectives plan to offer her a deal to testify against Cullen in exchange for immunity. O'Hara is to act as the substitute teacher in the son's kindergarten class at Astoria Elementary School, while Kimble is to discover the identity of the mother.

Both of them get to know each other - Kimble is divorced and has a son named Alex who is 13 years old, whom he has not spoken to in years after his ex-wife remarried and O'Hara is dating a chef - and become friends. Rachel's file does not have any recent pictures of her. The only recent picture is a side shot, in which she is unidentifiable.

The duo flies into Portland and from there they drive all the way to Astoria. Unfortunately, O'Hara, who is hypoglycemic, falls ill with a terrible case of stomach flu at the last moment, so Kimble takes the teacher's job. The school principal, Miss Schlowski (Linda Hunt), is suspicious, but Kimble adapts progressively to his new status even though he has no formal teaching experience. Schlowski is also worried that if the parents find out that she allowed a cop to work undercover in the school, they would all withdraw their kids, and she would have to close the place down.

Using his pet ferret as a class mascot, his police training as a model for structure of the classes, and positive reinforcement, he becomes a much-admired and cherished figure to the children. O'Hara recovers and poses as Kimble's sister from Austria to assist him in the investigation.

In turn, Kimble begins to love his cover job and his young charges, to the point where he personally deals with a case of child abuse. He first speaks to the cowardly mother and tells her to warn her husband that he will press charges if he abuses their child again, and when the father takes no notice, Kimble assaults him in front of the entire school, finally winning Miss Schlowski's favor. She assures him that despite his unorthodox methods, she is impressed with Kimble's performance and thus does not fire him.

One of Kimble's students is a boy named Dominic. Kimble becomes fond of Dominic's mother, Joyce Palmieri, who also works at the school. Joyce, like many other of the students' mothers, is estranged from her husband, so that she will not speak of him. Dominic admires Kimble and sees him as a fatherly figure, as his mother is estranged from her husband and will not speak of him, telling Dominic that he lives in France and that she left him after seeing his true colors, refusing to elaborate.

This raises Kimble's suspicions. In a series of conversations with the gradually more trusting Joyce, Kimble slowly deduces that she has to be Rachel Crisp and that Dominic is Crisp's son. O'Hara has been posing as Kimble's sister and agrees with his deductions.

Meanwhile, back in California, Cindy dies after using spiked cocaine provided by Crisp's mother, Eleanor Crisp (Carroll Baker). The case is dismissed because the prosecution has no other evidence. Crisp is freed from prison and immediately heads to Astoria, where he and his mother immediately begin looking for the child on the information from the informant. When Kimble learns this news, he confronts Rachel about her identity, saying he can protect her if she cooperates. She is outraged that he misled her, but she reveals that Crisp lied about the stolen money in order to convince drug dealers to hunt them down.

Crisp and Eleanor identify Crisp's ex-wife and Crisp starts a fire in the school in order to grab his son in the chaos, but he is seen.

Crisp takes his own son hostage when Kimble confronts him, but Crisp is bitten by the ferret (who Dominic had rescued at the sound of the fire alarm) and Dominic wriggles free. Crisp shoots Kimble in the knee and Kimble kills Crisp before he can hurt Dominic. Noticing that O'Hara is trying to help Kimble in the apprehension of her son, Eleanor runs over O'Hara with her rental car. She ventures into the school and shoots Kimble in the shoulder but then discovers her dead son. Before she can shoot Kimble again and kill him, O'Hara arrives and knocks her unconscious with a baseball bat.

Crisp's mother is arrested, while the unconscious Kimble (much to the sadness of the children) is hospitalized. During Kimble's recovery, O'Hara and her chef boyfriend announce their engagement, inviting him to the wedding. After Kimble recovers, he retires from the police force and returns to teaching at the school. The kids are very happy to see him, and Joyce comes into the classroom and kisses him in front of all of the kids.