It's January, the start of a new semester at exclusive Colby University nestled in the Carolina countryside. Near the campus, four young women prepare themselves for the final semester of their senior year. In her dingy apartment where she lives with her mother, poor Alicia organizes her school supplies. On the other side of town, in an exclusive row house, three beautiful and privileged young coeds start their day: Hadley, luxuriates in a bubble bath; her bulemic roommate Julianne wolfs down a huge bowl of cereal; and Sydney slowly wakes up next to her boyfriend, Josh, and some poor townie who is shocked to discover how she spent the night. Classes begin and Alicia is paired with Hadley to work on the all-important sociology class senior thesis. At first rejected, Alicia is finally accepted into Hadley's clique where she is introduced to a world of privilege and dangerous thrills. But her attempts to become one of them may just cost her her life...