Cady Heron is a sweet girl who has just started public high school for the first time since moving from South Africa, where her parents were zoologists. When she is befriended by two nice students, she is convinced by them to try to fit into the Plastics , or a clique of snobbish, airhead girls who rule the school. In the process of the experiment, she gets a little too into her role, and becomes a mean girl for real, and pushes Gretchen, the beta of the group out of the 2nd to top spot an takes her space. After getting dumped by her super-hot boyfriend, she realizes what she has done and accidentally spreads rumors about their teacher and gets punished for it. When she goes back to being an inner nerd and joining the Mathletes, she wins back her boyfriend Aaron and regains a normal existence.