Daria starts out at her new school, Lawndale High, after moving from Highland, Texas (Beavis and Butthead-ville). Her disgustingly cute younger sister, Quinn, is instantly accepted as one of the most popular girls in school, while Daria remains an outcast.
As soon as they get to school, Ms. Li, their new principal, makes all of the new students take a psychological exam, given by Mrs. Manson, the corrupt school psychologist. When Quinn takes her test, she gives a bunch if stupid, shallow answers, and thus passes with flying colours. Daria, on the other hand, is instantly disliked by Mrs. Manson, especially when she sees right through Manson’s façade and tries to mess with her mind. Daria is diagnosed to have low self-esteem, and she has to take a special esteem-building class after school.
During the idiotic class, which is taught by Mr. O’Neill, Daria meets Jane Lane, a fellow outcast. Jane, who has taken the class six times before just because it’s something to do after school, turns out to be nearly as sarcastic as Daria, and the two quickly become best friends.
Meanwhile, Quinn has become vice president of the Fashion Club and has managed to convince her new friends that it’s just a coincidence that two girls with the last name “Morgendorffer” had entered Lawndale HS on the same day and that she and Daria weren’t related at all. This, however, is all about to change.
When watching their favorite show, Sick Sad World (a tabloid-like news program), Daria and Jane see a special on UFO conventions and decide that those would be more fun than self-esteem class. So, they memorize the class’s test (Jane has all the questions in her notebook) and inform Mr. O’Neill that they’re ready to graduate from the class. Though reluctant at first, Mr. O’Neill is quickly impressed by Daria and Jane’s knowledge of the material, and he lets them graduate early. However, he’s so proud of them that he makes them do a speech about self-esteem at Lawndale High School’s next assembly. Jane puts on an…uhh…interesting act by pretending to have a self-esteem relapse, while Daria thanks her sister Quinn for all her support, mortifying her brainless sis in front of all her friends. (Oh, how sad.)
Daria then guilt-trips her mom and dad into taking her to a UFO convention, which makes Quinn freaked out and embarrassed, especially after she runs into Artie, a really weird guy who claims to have been abducted by aliens.
