Plot

Three angels are sent to Earth by Gabriel on a "fact-finding mission" to blend in with the teenagers at a high school and learn firsthand what peer pressure is. At the same time, Lucifer shows up to try to win some souls for his side.

The film begins outside the auditorium of a high school. Inside, the stage is set for a Christian concert. Lucifer (Daniel Walters) appears in his cunning, dazzling, sinister and sly style and tries to befriend the viewers. He then lets them know that they have arrived at the tail end of the concert and tries verbally to stop them from entering, until his monologue is stopped by two "guard angels" (who come from the "other side"). As the angels escort Lucifer off the premises, we go inside the auditorium and arrive at the concert in time to hear the song "Father Of Lights" being sung and performed as a "light show" by a Christian rock group called Hi-Tops.

After the song, the group's leader and director (Phil Davis) explains that the sneakers that the group are wearing, known as "hi-tops" and the origin of the group's name, are a symbol of running for the top, for God's best for everyone in the group, and reaching God's highest standards. He explains that everyone is running, either towards God or away from God, and asks the crowd which way they are running tonight. After the group sings "Fight Song", the director closes the show and tells the crowd that the group is expanding and will hold auditions at the high school at 3:00p.m. the following afternoon.

After the concert finishes, we meet a boyfriend and girlfriend named Tony Mizzarelli (Scott Richardson) and Heather Hanson (Michelle Rees). Heather suggests that she and Tony should buy some hi-tops so that they can look like they fit into the group already at the audition. A pushy, rude and bad-tempered girl named Ginny Alexander (Cheryl Dieda), whose self-esteem is so low that she strikes out and attempts to hurt others before they have a chance to hurt her, attempts to push her way into Tony and Heather's conversation, but they want nothing to do with Ginny. We then meet Norman J. Pitts (Jeff Carter), a nerd who has no friends and is desperately lonely whose very presence "grosses out" the other kids, who is also making plans to audition for the group. Another kid overhears Heather's suggestion about buying hi-tops and the idea soon catches on with the other kids, leading us to see the effects of pressure from peers to conform. At the shoe store, the kids sing "Hi-Tops" as they go crazy buying the sneakers of the same name in order to prepare for their own auditions for the group.

Meanwhile in Heaven, three novice angels named Finley (Matt Wright), Lily (Crystal Lewis) and Grace (Jennine Jones) are doing some research in the "heavenly archives" about fads. As they attempt to understand the motivations behind fads, they discover the words "peer pressure". When the archangel Gabriel (Robb Rigg) enters, the novice angels ask him what it means, but rather than explain it to them, Gabriel informs them that the "King" is sending them on a fact-finding mission. They have to infiltrate a high school campus, mix in with the students there, observe the phenomenon known as "peer pressure" for themselves, and impart some heavenly wisdom as required. However, there will be an element of danger to the mission - they will receive and be subjected to human emotions and are also at risk of confronting Lucifer on their mission.

The novice angels will be transformed into teenagers in order to help them to fit in with the students that they will mix with. Finley becomes "Twin Finn", a new wave punker whose new name comes from his twin mohawks, one colored red and the other green. Grace becomes "Amazing Grace", who is both a nerd and a klutz, and Lily becomes a valley girl dubbed "Lily from the Valley". The angels have to study the students' current fads until Gabriel blows his trumpet, when it will be time for them to return to Heaven. During the song "Fads", the made-over angels descend to earth and become part of a large production number in which the kids on earth act out crazes from the past and present from flat tops to Dick Clark and from hula hoops to Barbie dolls.

On her way to school the next morning, Ginny becomes friends with another new teenager named Lewy, who is a made-over Lucifer that has infiltrated the same high school. Some of the students talk about a history test that is happening on that day. When Ginny mentions that she forgot to study, Lewy suggests that she cheat off Heather's paper. Heather had studied and has a reputation as an "A" student. When Ginny asks Lewy what if she gets caught, he answers by singing "Don't Think About the Consequences", during which the scene changes to the classroom. The teacher, Mr. Quirk (Alan Smith), hands the students their test papers before leaving the classroom. During a reprise of the song, the students are choreographed in a cheat scene. At the end of the reprise, Ginny asks Heather to move her elbow so she can see her answer, but Heather tries to verbally put Ginny in her place just as Mr. Quirk returns to the room. He gives Heather an "F" for talking during the test, which leaves Heather feeling really upset. She receives some counseling from Lily, who tells Heather to try and look underneath Ginny's tough exterior in order to try and see why she is so hurtful.

After the class, Norman is sitting in front of his ground-level locker, from which he takes out a portable computer game and starts pressing its buttons. Grace enters and opens her locker, which happens to be directly above Norman's, and accidentally drops one of her books onto Norman's head. Norman looks up to see who had the common indecency to drop a book on his head and sees Grace, who sees him, and it is love at first sight. Together, they sing "Love Song for Two Nerds" in the style of a melodramatic soliloquy. They then decide to have lunch together in order to get to know each other better.

Also at the lockers, Tony is having a conversation with Twin Finn, in which he asks what Twin Finn thinks about sex before marriage. Twin Finn answers by talking about how God's love is the kind of love that puts the needs of somebody else first, suggesting that that is the kind of love that Heather deserves. The conversation finishes with Tony respecting Twin Finn for his very bold and very straight opinion. He then heads over to Heather in order to talk to her about getting engaged, but is met by Lewy, who offers Tony a different opinion. Tony then finds Heather, presents her with an engagement ring, and suggests that they celebrate by driving up to Inspiration Point, because everyone goes there when they are in love. However, Heather has strong convictions and is insulted by Tony's approach. She looks at the consequences down the line by comparing her possible future self to Mary-Lou Palmer, who is 18 years old, has a child, is stuck in an unwed mothers' home and has all of the responsibilities of a full-on adult, and concludes that she wants to make life-long decisions with her brains instead of her hormones, before she sings "Stand Back".

Meanwhile, Lewy finds Grace and antagonizes and encourages her to continue her love interest with Norman. Realizing that the situation cannot continue, she finds Norman and confesses to him that she is an angel. Norman does not take this news well. He has been rejected all of his life, and has been a lonely outcast, then finally someone comes along with whom he is able to relate, and now it seems that even she is rejecting him. He had been excited about the opportunity to audition for the Hi-Tops band, but now he is wondering what's the use. Grace replies by telling Norman to stop letting other people's opinions of him become his own opinion of himself, and instead to start measuring himself with God's yardstick, the Bible. Knowing that Norman can do well at the audition, Grace tells him not to dare skip it.

With the time for the auditions fast approaching, Ginny feels threatened by Heather's talent, and with some prompting from Lewy, she maliciously decides to tell Heather that the audition time has been moved an hour up. The time to start the auditions arrives, and in the song "I Wanna Be in the Band", we meet several of the students as they sing, dance and share their reasons for wanting to be in Hi-Tops. After their performances, the band's director asks if he has missed anyone. Norman hasn't auditioned yet and finds the courage to speak up, before he sings "Nobody Knows What It's Like to Be Alone", impressing the other auditioning students.

The director announces which of the students have made it into the group, and Ginny and Norman are among them, leading to a reprise of "I Wanna Be in the Band". An hour after the auditions started, Heather turns up, and when she realizes that she has missed the auditions, she confronts Ginny about the awful things she has done and the lies that she has told. The director overhears Heather's confrontation and expels Ginny from the group.

Depressed as a result of her expulsion, Ginny is in a perfect state for Lewy to offer her alcohol and drugs to drown her sorrows, but she overdoses. Norman finds her and tries to rouse her. He sends Lewy to call for the paramedics, but although Lewy acts like he is going to do so, he doesn't. Heather, Tony and the other students find them and attempt to resuscitate Ginny as the teen-angels watch on. Finding no breathing or pulse, some of the other students pronounce Ginny dead, and as they do so, we hear the sound of a trumpet, the signal Gabriel had given to the angels that it is time for their mission to end. Heather prays to God to not let Ginny die, concluding her prayer with a dramatic "PLEASE!" that reverberates and shakes its way up to the highest heights of Heaven. Heather's prayer is answered by Ginny opening up her eyes and telling the other kids that she had a strange dream in which Twin Finn, Lily and Grace were with her and telling her that she was going to have another chance. The other kids then start wondering where Twin Finn, Lily and Grace are. Norman turns around and sees the three angels making their way back up to heaven, with Grace giving him one final look of love before they disappear. The other kids then realize that Twin Finn, Lily and Grace must have been angels, something Norman already knew about Grace.

Ginny then asks Norman why he helped her, and he postulates that it may be because he sees something in her that he also sees in himself - both of them are afraid of being rejected, though God will never reject them. Heather adds that just because they fail at something doesn't mean that they are failures - God might love them just the way they are, but that doesn't mean that He is going to leave them that way - He has a plan for them. Tony apologizes to Heather for his earlier behavior to her, then asks Ginny if she would like to start over in her relationship with the Lord. Ginny replies that she wants to but is struggling to understand how God could ever accept her. Tony, Heather and Norman answer by singing "Take Off Your Mask".

Back as their angelic selves, Finley, Lily and Grace are reporting back to Gabriel in the heavenly archives that it will take them several millennia to write down all of the things that they have learned about peer pressure on their mission. When Gabriel asks them to share some of their learnings with him, they tell him that they have learned some really hot music and picked up some great souvenirs. They lift their robes up slightly to reveal that they are all wearing hi-tops, then present Gabriel with his own pair, before the film ends with a reprise of "Hi-Tops".