Seventeen-year-old Nadine Franklin has tempestuous relationships with her popular older brother Darian and her image-conscious mother Mona but was close to her late father Tom. He died of a heart attack when Nadine was thirteen, and her best friend Krista is the only person keeping her buoyed. Mona travels to the Oregon Coast to meet a boyfriend, and in her absence, Nadine and Krista get extremely drunk. Darian throws a pool party at the house and, after throwing up, Nadine falls asleep while Krista talks to Darian. The next morning, Nadine finds Krista with Darian in bed, straining the girls' friendship. The next day at school, Krista insists Nadine join her at a house party to which Darian has invited her. When they arrive, Darian introduces Krista to other students, leaving Nadine on her own. After failed attempts at mingling, Nadine sits outside with another partygoer, who remarks how inferior Nadine seems compared to her brother, and Nadine leaves the party. Nadine turns to her classmate Erwin Kim, who has a crush on her. She is attracted to older student Nick Mossman and makes inept attempts to attract him. She invites Erwin to an amusement park, but she rejects his attempt to kiss her. At the end of the night, Nadine tells him he is a great guy and they become friends. At school, Krista confronts Nadine for ignoring her, and Nadine says Darian does not care about Krista and will soon drop her. Krista retorts that Darian has asked her to be his girlfriend and to prom, which is months away. Insecure and desperate, Nadine says Krista must choose between her or Darian. When she refuses to do so, Nadine ends their friendship. For support at school, Nadine turns to world-weary teacher Max Bruner, who says she is his favorite student to cheer her up. Nadine goes swimming in Erwin's pool and finds his house is luxurious and his family is wealthy. She learns Erwin is a talented animation filmmaker and accepts his invitation to their school's
short film festival. Mona has been giving Nadine a ride to school since her falling out with Krista. One day, Nadine refuses to get out of the car when she sees Krista arriving at school at the same time, which leads to Mona bringing Nadine to work with her. There, they argue about her father, and Nadine steals Mona's car. She drives to a playground, writes a sexually explicit text to Nick, and accidentally sends it, much to her horror. Nadine drives to school and flippantly tells Bruner she is going to kill herself, and he tries to reassure her everything will be fine. Nick replies to her text, asking her to hang out. Mona calls Darian while he is with Krista and some friends, telling him that Nadine is missing. Darian and Krista leave to find her. Nick, having taken Nadine's explicit text seriously, attempts to have sex with her in his car, and angrily belittles her when she rejects his advances. Humiliated and heartbroken, Nadine tearfully runs away and calls Bruner, who takes her back to his house where they wait for Darian to arrive. Nadine meets Bruner's wife and child there. When Nadine refuses to go home with him upon seeing Krista in the car, Darian sarcastically reveals to Nadine he has suffered from the pressures of taking their father's place, saying he feels trapped and did not apply to distant colleges because their mother is so dependent on him; The only person who makes him happy is Krista, but he dislikes that it destroys Nadine for him to be with Krista. Darian asks Bruner to give Nadine a ride home. Back at their house, Nadine tells Darian about her own feelings of self-hatred and envy. They hug, ending their feud. As Nadine leaves for the film festival in the morning, she and Krista reconcile and agree to catch up later. Realizing that Mona is still worried she has run away, Nadine texts her that she is safe, and Mona decides to trust her word. Erwin's animated film is about an alien boy who falls in love with a girl at high school but is rejected. The girl resembles Nadine and wears sneakers similar to hers. After the film, Nadine hands Erwin flowers she picked for him and apologizes for taking so long to accept his affection, and he jokingly says the film is not about her. Erwin is congratulated by his colleagues and introduces Nadine, who greets them with a smile. == Cast ==