Stanley the Stink Bug has been homeschooled his whole life, so he was very excited about his first day at Bugs Middle School, but unfortunately, everything went terribly wrong. He discovered that it was harder to make friends than he thought. Lacey Ladybug was mean to him, and this caused him to let out a big stink in the classroom. Other classmates started to call him names, which led him to releasing more stink. Before he knew it, the whole room was so stinky that his class and teacher had to leave the room.
With the help of a special classmate that secretly remained in the classroom, Stanley learns to love himself the way he is and why it is important to control his emotions. Betty Butterfly teaches Stanley that he needs to embrace everyone's differences and that there is room for all kinds of bugs in the world, even the stinky ones!