Teenage Cody Heron was educated in Africa by his scientist parents. When his family moves to the suburbs of Illinois, Cody finally gets to experience public school and gets a quick primer on the cruel, tacit laws of popularity that divide his fellow students into tightly knit cliques. He unwittingly finds himself in the good graces of an elite group of cool students dubbed "the Plastics," but Cody soon realizes how his shallow group of new friends earned this nickname.
