Drea and Eleanor agree to go after one another's bullies.
Drea is at the peak of her high school powers when her entire life goes up in flames after her sex tape gets leaked to the whole school, seemingly by her boyfriend and king of the school, Max. Eleanor is an awkward new transfer student who is angered to find out that she now has to go to school with her old bully, Carissa who started a nasty rumor about her in summer camp when they were 13. After a clandestine run-in at tennis camp, Drea and Eleanor form an unlikely and secret friendship to get revenge on each other's tormentors.
Drea (Camila Mendes) is a popular student attending Rosehill Country Day High School in Miami on scholarship, but becomes a social outcast after her equally popular boyfriend Max (Austin Abrams) anonymously releases an intimate video of her (Drea made a video of herself masturbating and sent it to Max only. Max claims that his phone was hacked into). Drea dreams of getting into Yale more than anything else.
Other students at Rosehill include Ariana (Francesca Reale), Sage (Olivia Sui), Allegra (Rachel Matthews), Meghan (Paris Berelc), Elliot (Jonathan Daviss), Montana (Maia Reficco) and others. Headmaster (Sarah Michelle Gellar) put Drea on probation for sucker punching Max, along with mandatory community service. Drea cant transfer as her mom is a nurse, and Drea has a scholarship at Rosehill. This is her only path to Yale. Tara is Drea's closest friend. Even she tells Drea that Max didn't leak the video.
Over the summer, Drea works at a tennis camp where she meets Eleanor (Maya Hawke), who is transferring to Rosehill as a senior. After Drea's car fails to start, Eleanor offers her a ride and tells her about also becoming an outcast when a false rumor spread she forcibly kissed Carissa (Ava Capri), another Rosehill student, at a summer camp years earlier. This was after she had confessed to Carissa that she was a lesbian.
Eleanor befriends Max's sister Gabbi at school. Drea learns that Max has started dating Tara. To humiliate her further, Max apologizes to Drea for her video in front of the entire school assembly and launches a new club in her honor. When Drea and Eleanor realize they will not get justice on their own, they devise a plan to exact revenge on the other's rival: Drea on Carissa and Eleanor on Max. Following a makeover, Eleanor slowly infiltrates Drea's old clique while Drea tries to get close to Carissa by volunteering at the school farm and befriends Russ (RIsh Shah), a fellow student. Eleanor is invited to a pool party thrown by Max, where she discovers he is cheating on his new girlfriend, Tara (Alisha Boe) (with Allegra, the Instagram witch). Drea runs into Carissa at the beach with Russ, and steals her keys, granting access to the farm's locked greenhouse full of marijuana and magic mushrooms.
At the school's Senior Ring Ceremony, Drea places the drugs found at the secret greenhouse in their classmates' dinner with the intention of stealing Max's phone to obtain evidence of his wrongdoings. She also anonymously tips off the school's headmaster about the greenhouse, getting Carissa expelled. While searching through Max's messages, Drea and Eleanor find photos and messages from other girls at school stretching back years.Meanwhile Russ and Drea start spending time together after Carissa is expelled. They have sex together.
At the Valentine's Day assembly, Eleanor sends Max's texts to the entire student body, but the plan fails when Max and Tara pretend to be a poly-amorous couple, establishing Max as a progressive individual. Drea spirals after getting rejected from her dream school, Yale (As her grades had slipped, her extracurricular were non-existent, and someone sent her the school editorial on her assault on Max) (Drea is convinced that Max sent the article to Yale), and concocts a new plan to destroy Max and her popular former friends at the upcoming Admissions Party, which can only be attended by those accepted by Ivy League schools. Drea plans to wire up Eleanor, who has an Ivy league admissions letter and will be invited to the party. Drea plans to capture Max's admission on camera.
Eleanor begins to accept her new popularity and Drea's old friends, beginning a relationship with Max's younger sister Gabbi (Talia Ryder). When Max and his friends surprise Eleanor for her birthday, Drea crashes the party and nearly jeopardizes their revenge scheme. The two fight (Drea says that Max and his friends are trying to control Eleanor and Eleanor says that Drea is trying to do the same) and go their separate ways after Eleanor asserts that there is no evidence that Max leaked Drea's video. Gabbi overhears this and breaks up with Eleanor for taking Max's side.
Drea seeks dirt on Eleanor and visits Carissa at a rehab facility for information (Erica (Sophie Turner), a girl who Drea got kicked out of Tennis camp, was at the same rehab center). Carissa reveals Eleanor is actually "Nosey" Nora Cutler, a girl Carissa and Drea went to summer camp with. It was Drea who outed Nora as a lesbian and spread the rumor, an event Drea had forgotten, which prompted Eleanor to change her name and undergo a Rhinoplasty. Drea confronts Eleanor, who reveals she had been playing Drea all along, aiming to cause Drea the same pain she endured from the rumor. Eleanor wants Drea to go to the admissions party and film her friends do the craziest shit and then leak it online from her computer. This way, the friends and Drea both go down together. Eleanor also reveals that she told Russ how Drea framed Carissa. Russ wants Drea to turn herself in, but she refuses. Russ says she is self centered and breaks up with her.
Eleanor threatens to frame Drea's mother for drug possession if she refuses to expose her old friends at the Admissions Party. Later, Eleanor purposefully T-bones Drea's car, sending Drea to the hospital to create an elaborate sob story that permits her access to the party.Eleanor feels bad about destroying Drea in this way.
During the Admissions Party, Drea reveals Eleanor's past as "Nosey Nora" to Max and friends, but immediately regrets it and apologizes to Eleanor for her past actions. She says that Eleanor might be the only real friend she ever had. Their emotional reconciliation is interrupted when Max reveals he discovered their plot against him (The guests had to submit their phones while entering the Admissions party and Max went through Eleanor's phone to understand the whole plot). He plans to expose them and confesses to releasing Drea's video, unaware Eleanor is carrying a recording device. Eleanor and Drea project Max's confession to the entire party, turning everyone against him. Max is expelled from Rosehill and his spot at Yale is offered to Drea, who rejects it. She and Eleanor skip graduation and drive off into the sunset.
In a post-credits scene, Drea apologizes to Russ, Eleanor reconciles with Gabbi, and Max joins a toxic masculinity support group.
