Based on a best-selling novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde, Oscar winners Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment star in the heartwarming tale of an eleven-year-old boy who comes up with an utopian idea as a project for school.



History teacher Eugene Simonet (Spacey) offers the same ongoing extra-credit assignment he has offered every year: Come up with an idea that will change the world. Simeonet is unprepared for precocious, irrepressible Trevor McKinney (Osmont), who conjures up a stunning scheme. Trevor suggests that every person who benefits from someone else's good deed should "pay it forward," instead of paying it back, and in turn offer favors to three other people. The first guinea pig for Trevor's experiment is his overworked, imperfect mom (Helen Hunt) for whom he tries to find a boyfriend...