When Olive lies to her best friend about losing her virginity to one of the college boys, a girl overhears their conversation. Soon, her story spreads across the entire school like wildfire.
After a little white lie about losing her virginity gets out, a clean cut high school girl sees her life paralleling Hester Prynne's in "The Scarlet Letter," which she is currently studying in school - until she decides to use the rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.—Sony Pictures
High school student Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) finds herself the victim of her school's "rumor mill" when she lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) about a weekend tryst with a fictional college freshman. Word quickly spreads of Olive's promiscuity and, much to her surprise, she welcomes the attention. When she agrees to help out a bullied friend by pretending to sleep with him, her image rapidly degrades to a more lascivious state and her world begins to spin out of control. As she helps more and more of her classmates and her lies continue to escalate, Olive must find a way to save face before the school's religious fanatic Marianne (Amanda Bynes) gets her expelled and she loses a shot at attaining her own happiness.—The Massie Twins
In California, the virgin student Olive Penderghast feels anonymous in the high school where she studies. When her best friend Rhiannon invites her to spend the weekend with her family, Olive lies and tells that she will have a date with a nonexistent community college student. On the next Monday, Rhiannon goes to the bathroom with Olive and asks how her encounter was and Olive lies, telling that she lost her virginity in the weekend with her fictitious boyfriend. However, one school mate overhears their conversation and spreads the rumor about Olive's promiscuity. The religious fanatic Marianne blames her and out of the blue. Olive becomes a notorious student. Meanwhile, Olive is studying "The Scarlet Letter" in the English class and she identifies herself like Hester Prynne, the woman condemned by her Puritan neighbors in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel. Olive discloses the truth to her bullied gay friend Brandon and suggests him to also lie that he had slept with a girl. Brandon asks Olive to help him and she pretends to have sex with him in a party. Then other outcast boys offer to pay Olive to improve their images while Olive's reputation degrades. When Olive loses control of the situation, she needs to take an attitude to revert it.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
All clean-cut high schooler Olive did was lie about losing her virginity to her friend Rhiannon. However, a little lie has drastic consequences, for her peers believe that she is promiscuous. She eventually embraces this reputation by wearing a red A (for adulterer) like Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Meanwhile, the rumor mill, which spreads lies about her sexual activities with her peers, comes to her advantage. She improves her social standing. Whoever other students erroneously believe had sex with her enjoy more popularity, which in turn improves her reputation. She receives monetary gifts. However, her reputation takes a toll as she is held liable for something that would cause her to be hated, even when she was not involved in the incident.—Ken
The story is narrated by Olive Penderghast, a seventeen-year-old high school student living in Ojai, California, speaking into her webcam, on a show titled "The shudder inducing and cliched, however totally false account of how I lost my virginity to a guy at community college".Olive lives with her parents Dill (Stanley Tucci) and Rosemary, who trust Olive and give her a lot of freedom and do not interfere in her life, unless she asks for advice.
Olive believes that she is invisible to boys in her school. Mr Griffith is her favorite teacher (who teaches English Literature) who advises her to stay away from drugs and to concentrate on her studies.
Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) lies to her best friend Rhiannon Abernathy (Aly Michalka) about going on a date in order to get out of camping with Rhiannon's hippie parents. Olive went out on one camping night with them where they both got naked while having dinner, and it got super awkward for Olive.Olive claims that her date is with a boy named George who studies with her brother Chip (Bryce Clyde Jenkins) at college.
Instead, she hangs around the house all weekend listening to Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine". The following Monday, Olive tells Rhiannon that she is not likely to see "George" again. Rhiannon believes that since spent the whole weekend with him, she had sex. Pressed by Rhiannon, Olive lies about losing her virginity to a college guy.
Marianne Bryant (Amanda Bynes), a strictly religious girl at their school, overhears Olive telling the lie and soon it spreads like wildfire. This starts phase-2 called "The accelerated velocity of terminological Inexactitude". Which means "lies travel fast".Marianne is the Secretary of the student council, Chairman of the Orange blossom dance committee, and the President of the Cross Your Heart club.
The school's church group, run by Marianne, decides to "save" Olive from her supposed promiscuity. Olive tries to tell Marianne what she heard between her and Rhiannon was not true. Marianne refuses to budge and has already judged Olive as guilty.This was the 2nd time her sex life became the talk of the school. She was in 8th grade when she was locked in a room with fellow student Todd for a make-out session. Todd was not ready, and asked Olive to lie that they did kiss. Olive agreed to help Todd out.
Olive talks to her parents and simply asks them to remember that she was at home all weekend. Marianne's friend Nina Howell (Mahaley Patel) hassles her in class and Olive calls her a twat to get her off her back. Olive is sent to the principal Gibbons' (Malcolm McDowell) office and is given detention.Olive confides the truth to her friend Brandon (Dan Byrd) while they were both cleaning the courts and the toilets during detention, and he explains how others bully him because he is gay. Brandon later asks Olive to pretend to sleep with him so that he will be accepted by everyone. This starts phase-3 "A Lady's choice and a gentleman's agreement".
Brandon convinces Olive and they pretend to have sex at a party. After having a fight with Rhiannon over Olive's new identity as a "Dirty Skank", Olive decides to counteract the harassment by embracing her new image as the school tramp.
She begins to wear more provocative clothing and stitches a red "A" to everything she wears inspired by Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, which she has been reading in English class. The red "A" represents adulterer.Boys who usually have had no luck with girls in the past beg Olive to say they have had sex with her in order to increase their own popularity, which she does in exchange for gift cards to various stores, in turn increasing her reputation.
Things get worse when Micah (Cam Gigandet), Marianne's 22-year-old boyfriend, contracts chlamydia from sleeping with Mrs. Griffith (Lisa Kudrow), the school guidance counselor, and blames it all on Olive. Olive agrees to lie to cover up the affair so that the marriage of her favorite teacher, Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church), would be spared.
Marianne's religious clique, which now includes Rhiannon, begins harassing Olive in order to get her to leave school. After an ill-fated date with Anson (Jake Sandvig), a boy who wants to pay her to actually sleep with him and not just pretend she did, Olive reconnects with Todd (Penn Badgley), her old crush, who is also the school's mascot. Todd then tells her that he does not believe the rumors because he remembers when she lied for him when he was not ready for his first kiss years ago.
Olive then begins to ask everyone she lied for to help her out by telling the truth, but Brandon and Micah have abruptly left town and everyone else is enjoying their newfound popularity and do not want the truth to get out. Mrs. Griffith also refuses to tell the truth and when Olive threatens to expose her, Mrs. Griffith rebuffs her, saying no one would believe her.
Olive, out of spite, then immediately tells Mr. Griffith, who believes her and separates from Mrs. Griffith. After a friendly talk with her eccentric, open-minded mother Rosemary (Patricia Clarkson), Olive comes up with a plan to get everything finally out in the open. She then does a song and dance number at a school pep rally to get people's attention to watch her via web cam, promising an online sex show with Todd. At the she confesses what she has done. The various boys whose reputations Olive helped improve are also shown watching. She signs off by saying that she may lose her virginity to him eventually, but declares it "nobody's goddamn business".
Later, Olive texts Rhiannon apologizing for lying to her. When she is finishing up her web cast, Todd comes by riding a lawnmower and tells her to come outside. She goes outside to meet him, they kiss and the two are shown riding off on the lawnmower.
