As high school students in
Tucson, Arizona in 1987, Romy White and Michele Weinberger are continually bullied by the "A-Group," a small group of popular, yet mean, girls, led by cheerleader Christie Masters, who humiliates them repeatedly. Romy also has a crush on Christie's boyfriend, athlete Billy Christianson. Their classmate Heather Mooney is in love with a geek named Sandy Frink, but Sandy has a crush on Michele. Finally, at the prom, Romy asks Billy to dance with her. He agrees, but he and Christie trick the girls into thinking he has dumped Christie to be with Romy. Romy waits all night to dance with him, but he has already left with Christie. Michele dances with Romy instead. Ten years later, Romy and Michele live together in an apartment in
Los Angeles,
California. Romy works as a cashier in the service department at a
Jaguar dealership and Michele is unemployed. They are single, unambitious, and enjoy a casual lifestyle consisting mostly of dancing at nightclubs, eating junkfood, and making fun of movies together. At work one day, Romy encounters Heather, who is now a successful businesswoman. Heather informs her about their upcoming ten-year high school reunion. Romy realizes that their lack of achievements will not make a good impression at the reunion. Failing at their last-ditch attempts to improve themselves, they decide to fake success by showing up in an expensive car and business suits. Romy borrows a Jaguar from a co-worker, and Michele makes their outfits. En route to the reunion, they decide to claim that they invented the
Post-it note, believing that no one will know better. A confrontation over the details of their lie escalates into a fight about their friendship, and they decide to part ways once they reach the reunion. When they arrive at the reunion, Romy leaves Michele asleep in the car, and Michele dreams that she and Romy each separately claim to reunion attendees to have invented Post-its without the help of the other. She begins a romance with Sandy, who is now wealthy and attractive, and Romy gets together with Billy. The two refuse to speak to each other for decades until Romy is on her deathbed; Michele calls her to make amends, but they rehash old confrontations and the dream ends with Romy's death. Michele wakes up and enters the real reunion. The A-group are all pregnant, and Christie is married to Billy and has two children already. Romy starts to tell the Post-it story, but Heather arrives and unintentionally reveals the lie by telling everyone the
real inventor's name. Christie and her friends taunt Romy, who runs out of the room. Michele comforts her and the pair reconcile, deciding to be themselves instead of trying to impress others. They change into brightly colored homemade outfits and return to the reunion. Christie makes fun of their clothes, but Lisa Luder, a former A-group girl who is now a fashion editor for
Vogue, approves of the outfits; Lisa coolly dismisses Christie's objections and the rest of the A-group girls abandon her. Sandy, now wealthy and successful, arrives via helicopter. He confesses that he still loves Michele and asks her to dance with him. Michele agrees, as long as Romy can dance with them. Their dance receives huge applause, and Sandy escorts them to his helicopter. On their way out, they encounter Billy, who is unhappy in his marriage to Christie and boorishly hits on Romy. As turnabout for the trick he and Christie played on her at their prom, she convinces him to return to his hotel room to wait for her, but instead leaves the reunion with Michele and Sandy in the latter's helicopter. Six months later, back in Los Angeles, Romy and Michele have opened a successful fashion boutique with their homemade designs using money borrowed from Sandy. ==Cast==