High school student Scott Howard is 17 years old, sick of being average and wishes he were special. His father runs a local hardware store. Scott’s a mediocre basketball player on a losing team. The girl of his dreams, Pamela Wells (Lorie Griffin), is dating Mick, a jerk from an opposing team. After one of the team’s losses, Scott begins to notice strange changes to his body. While at a party, Scott keeps undergoing changes and eventually he returns home and undergoes a complete change and becomes The Wolf. Although he is initially keen to hide his condition from his father, Harold reveals that he too is a werewolf. Harold never told his son about the condition because “sometimes it skips a generation” and he was hoping it wouldn’t happen to Scott. Scott first reveals his transformation to the public at one his basketball games. After momentarily stunning the crowd with The Wolf, Scott goes on to wow them with his basketball skills and he finishes the game with a quadruple double (double digits in points, rebounds, blocks and steals).

Scott subsequently learns to use his family “curse” to gain popularity at school, becoming the team’s star basketball player. He is able to transform at will between his normal self and The Wolf. His basketball team goes from last to first, and Scott begins spending most of his school time as The Wolf. Scott also wins the heart of Pamela while ignoring the affections of his best friend, Boof (Susan Ursitti), who has loved him since childhood.

Meanwhile, Scott’s best friend ‘Stiles’ (Jerry Levine), a party animal with an entrepreneurial streak, quickly cashes in on Scott’s new-found popularity, selling Teen Wolf T-shirts and other merchandise. Stiles’ “wolfmania” reaches such extremes that he trades in his own vehicle for a stepvan dubbed “The Wolfmobile”.

Scott tires of The Wolf persona after a while, and wishes to be himself. During the final basketball game, Scott refuses to “wolf out” and insists on winning the game on his own. Coach Bobby Finstock tells Scott that the team is doomed to fail without The Wolf, but Scott is able to prove him wrong. In a dramatic ending set to the tones of musician Mark Safan, Scott is able to rally the team back to within a point as time is expiring. Scott is fouled by Mick on the final play and given two shots. In a clear violation of the rules, Mick is able to stand underneath the basket as Scott attempts his foul shots. Despite having to jump to complete the free throws, Scott makes them both and the Beavers win the game. During the after game celebration following Scott and Boof’s kiss, one of the extras in the bleachers is clearly visible as he tries to cover up the fact that his pants are unzipped.