Drea seemingly has the perfect life, one that she’s worked extremely hard to maintain. She’s on top of the world going into her senior year at a prestigious prep school, but her life falls apart in the time it takes for a video to go viral. A sex tape she sent to her boyfriend, Max, leaks.
She’s convinced he had something to do with it, but he plays innocent. He claims he got hacked. Drea punches him in the flames in front of the whole school. Suddenly, she is the queen bee no more. She’s put on behavioral probation and could lose her scholarship if anything else goes down with Max.
More than anything, Drea is angry at herself for letting her guard down. She decides to channel all the rage she has into getting revenge.
That summer, Eleanor meets Drea at tennis camp. After overhearing some gossip in the bathroom, Eleanor tells Drea that Erica Norman leaked the video of her. Drea acts quickly, framing Erica and getting her kicked out of the camp.
Later, Drea’s car won’t start, so Eleanor offers her a ride. Eleanor spills her guts to Drea. She reveals that when she was 13 years old, her entire life fell apart. She knew she was queer but didn’t tell anyone until one special girl came alone. Eleanor calls it the “single greatest moment of my life.” However, the girl told everyone that Eleanor tried to hold her down and kiss her. “She turned me into this predator. No one would come near me. She destroyed me,” Eleanor says to Drea before revealing that the girl was Carissa Jones.
Once school starts, Eleanor brings up an idea to Drea: doing each other’s revenge. Drea, ready for vengeance, happily agrees to this plan. First and foremost, Drea gives Eleanor a teen movie makeover.
Drea wants definitive proof that Max is a hypocrite so she can destroy him, so she has Eleanor wiggle her way into Max’s inner circle. They try to expose Max by leaking his texts that reveal he’s sleeping with girls from every clique. Max finds a way to spin the situation in his favor.
Drea snaps when she finds out that she’s lost Yale, her dream school. She’s not holding back anymore. She knows that Eleanor has to go to the Admissions Party, a night of “pure debauchery,” in order to get dirt on Max. Drea’s determination to destroy Max makes her forget Eleanor’s birthday. When Max and his friends throw Eleanor a surprise party, Drea shows up and makes a scene.
When her car won’t start, Drea calls her mechanic and learns that someone removed her spark plug the last time she brought her car in. She has a feeling that Eleanor took it out. Drea begins to investigate, starting with Carissa. Carissa reveals that Eleanor was her first girlfriend, but she was called Nora back then. Eleanor’s since had a nose job and name change.
The biggest bombshell is that Drea started the rumor about Eleanor all those years ago. Nora Cutler is “Nosy Nora” Cutler from day camp. Eleanor has been deceiving Drea this whole time. Eleanor actually orchestrated their first meeting.
Eleanor admits that after the ring dinner, she was going to call off her scheme. She felt like Drea had changed. But after the birthday party, she realized Drea hadn’t changed at all.
Drea returns home to find Eleanor waiting for her. Eleanor’s had the upper hand the entire time. In Drea’s own words, “Narcissists are too focused on themselves to realize they’re being played.”
Eleanor reveals that the worst part about all of this is that Drea doesn’t even remember what she did to her. Eleanor’s plan is far from over. She orders Drea to get back in with her friends, go to the Admissions Party, and get them all to do insane things. When the videos get leaked, everything will be traced back to Drea. Drea and her friends will be destroyed. In order to make sure Drea complies, Eleanor threatens to bring Drea’s mom into this.
A freaked-out Drea is driving her car when Eleanor crashes into her. This needed to happen so Drea could get close to her friends ago. Nothing like a good pity party.
The night of the Admissions Party, Eleanor has a brooch with a hidden camera on it for Drea. Drea twists the knife she’s always had in Eleanor by revealing that “Nosy Nora” is Eleanor to their friends. An emotional Eleanor storms off, and Drea follows her. Drea apologizes. She knows that was a low blow. Drea ends up smashing the brooch. “You might be the only real friend I’ve ever had,” Drea confesses. She wishes she could take back starting the rumor. “I will regret what I did to you forever,” Drea says.
And here’s yet another twist. Max has overhead everything between Drea and Eleanor. He went to find them after going through Eleanor’s phone. Max admits that he hates Drea. He was going to let this hatred go until he saw the texts. Now he threatens to “absolutely annihilate” them both. He accuses Drea of using him and thinks no one would have cared about her if he didn’t. Her Teen Vogue spotlight video was his breaking point.
“So I told you I loved you. I got you to make that video. And then I sent it to the entire school,” Max confesses to Drea in front of Eleanor. Max walks away proudly. He thinks he’s won. Turns out, Eleanor has a separate recorder. She’s made “revenge mommy” Drea proud.
They decide to take down Max once and for all — together. They play the video in front of everyone at the party. Everyone turns on Max. He ends up expelled, and Drea’s offered his spot at Yale. After everything that’s happened, Drea knows Yale isn’t the end-all-be-all. She’s got what she really needed: a true friend. She rides off into the sun with Eleanor.