The protagonist, Dewey is a struggling rockstar who is kicked out of his band, No Vacancy, at the beginning of the show. In need of money, he impersonates Ned Schneebly and gets a substitute teacher job at the Horace Green School, where he founds the band School of Rock with the students, who are musical prodigies. Dewey is usually wild, desperate, naive, dull-witted, and somewhat more childish than his students.