At Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio, Veronica Sawyer is part of a popular but feared clique, along with three other wealthy and beautiful girls with the same first name: Heather Duke, Heather McNamara and the school's ruthless queen bee, Heather Chandler. The four girls often play croquet in Veronica's backyard. Tired of the clique abusing its power, Veronica longs for her old life with her kinder but less popular friends. She becomes fascinated with Jason "J.D." Dean, a new student and rebellious outsider, after he pulls out a gun and fires blanks to scare football-player bullies Kurt Kelly and Ram Sweeney.
