Susan, a pretty high school student, has everything going for her—except popularity. She can't figure out why she is so "out of step" with the rest of the crowd. She finally comes to realize that her habit of "hanging back" and "not trying to fit in" is making her unpopular. She vows to change her ways and go along with the crowd, which means that people will like her.

Former childhood friends Sarah Inman and Ron Johnson have drifted apart in high school. Ron hosts open parties every Friday, but Sarah never attends, preferring to stay home with her homework and dismissing her classmates—especially popular class president Bill Tyler—as shallow. Her aloofness has earned her a reputation as a snob, though she doesn’t realize it. When Ron reluctantly invites her at his mother’s urging, Sarah agrees to go, setting the stage for a clash between her world of isolation and Ron’s world of popularity.