Professor Leaf, an absent-minded poet, is forced to face the fact that his son is a math prodigy who is as colorblind as he's in love with Brigitte Bardot, the French bombshell.

Professor Leaf, an absent-minded poet with a prejudice against the sciences, is forced to face the fact that his son is a math prodigy with little artistic talent of his own.—<[email protected]>

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Leaf (James Stewart) and his wife, Vina (Glynis Johns) are devoted to the arts and guide their children, "Penny" (Cindy Carol) and Erasmus (Bill Mumy) towards the same path. Robert is dismayed to discover that Erasmus is tone-deaf and colorblind, but also a math prodigy. When he receives unwanted media attention, his parents send him to a psychiatrist in hopes of giving him balance. Erasmus admits to the psychiatrist that he is in love with Brigitte Bardot, to whom he writes love letters despite only being eight years old. Penny and her friends pay Erasmus to do their math homework so that he can buy stamps to mail his letters. Robert also learns that Erasmus has used his skills to calculate bets for an underground campus betting ring run by Penny's boyfriend, Ken Taylor (Fabian). When Robert is accused of complicity in the betting ring, he angrily quits. He and Erasmus later encounter Dr. Peregrine Upjohn (John Williams), an admirer of Robert's work, who convinces them to start a foundation to fund liberal arts scholarships. Previously against Erasmus using his skills to place bets, his parents now relent as they judge the foundation to be a cause worthy of funding. Erasmus, however, is still obsessed with Brigitte.—Patrick Depew