The Cow Ate My Homework

Logline: When a cow eats his science project and sets off a chain reaction of disasters in his last week of high school, a people-pleasing teen must confront bullies, his crush, and most frightening of all: his parents’ expectations that he’ll take over their farm.

Synopsis:

Caleb Sanchez is an unpopular skinny white farm boy with a complicated foster-kid past. He’s just trying to finish his last week of high school and have the one life accomplishment of graduation under his belt before he follows along with the plans of his adoptive parents. 

They assume he’ll take over the farm they worked hard to own as poor immigrants. They have no idea that he’s trying to figure out how to break this news to his best friend Sarah and tell her that a move to Nashville to become a famous country duo is not actually realistic for him, despite how long the two of them have dreamed about it.

All of this suddenly becomes more complicated when a ravenous steer sets off a chain reaction of events that turns Caleb’s last week of high school into the worst week of his life. His group project grade for science class is wrecked when this cow eats his diorama of a soil ecosystem. After accidentally admitting to his intense teacher that he did the whole project himself, she threatens a failing grade for him and his project partner if they don’t follow directions and do it together.

But his project partner, redneck bully Rodney, wants Caleb to do it again himself anyway. Caleb decides to stand up to Rodney for the first time ever, rather than risk his own graduation. This royally pisses off Rodney, leading to a punch in the gut, some hallway vomit, and the accidental creation of a more cunning enemy for Caleb. 

Dax is a 4.0 hipster who has never belonged here in this hick-town school. When Rodney offers Dax a chance to team up and get revenge on Caleb, whom they both hate right now, Caleb becomes the target of more insidious bullying plots. 

Suddenly, Caleb’s painful past (complete a white trash meth-dealing birth dad) is spilled out in front of the entire school. Then, when an unexpected tender moment between Caleb and Sarah is captured in a pic, his enemies drag Sarah into their revenge-on-Caleb plots. He and Sarah then begin their own offensive plots against their tormentors, which include some red jello, toilet water, and a ruined rodeo outfit.

But when the bullies succeed in driving a wedge between Caleb and Sarah, he’s finally forced to confront his deepest wants and to figure out how to go after his dreams without hurting those he loves. 

After some brainstorming, an all-nighter, and a heart-to-heart with his parents, Caleb has final showdown with Rodney in a cage match while dressed like the world's ugliest female rodeo clown. Then, Caleb chases Sarah down as she’s about to leave for Nashville without him. He professes his love, they reconcile in a totally on-brand quippy manner, and they sing together at the final graduation party while a certain beefy steer looks on knowingly from its pen.