Disasters abound at a gifted kids' picnic, where stage acts bomb, families feud, and Malcolm's dad Hal serves meat to vegetarians. Despite Malcolm's best efforts - feigning sickness, planning to go over the wall with Francis - his family insist on accompanying him to a circus-themed picnic for the Krelboyne class, whom must each perform for the assembled students and families. Once there, Lois immediately feuds with Dorene, the loud-mouthed mother who dominates the other parents; Reese plans to "kick Krelboyne butt" and is hoist by his own petard (okay, underpants) by Eraserhead's much bigger brother; Francis goes through an entire romantic relationship in the course of the single afternoon; and Hal grosses out the entire class by sneaking real meat into their vegetarian barbecue. When a desperate Malcolm turns Stevie's demonstration of catalysts into a gigantic stink bomb, Caroline is convinced she will be fired - so Malcolm must go on and quell the crowd by demonstrating his abili
Malcolm is a regular high school kid trying to navigate his way through life despite the various obstacles thrown in his way a complete misunderstanding of girls, the constant burden of masterminding plans to get himself and his brothers into or out of trouble, and a miserable job at the Lucky Aide not to mention a severe case of teen angst.
Although Malcolm has a genius IQ, he can't seem to make sense of the opposite sex, much less his embarrassing family. Lois is the outspoken, opinionated mom, who still manages to rule the roost even though her boys are growing wise to her crafty ways. Hal, a dad who is just a bumbling, big kid at heart, often finds himself creating more chaos than his five boys combined.