Four high school senior BFFs, each 18: McKenzie, leader of the pack who has always dreamed of a magical prom (white, pretty, determined), Cassandra (white/Cherokee, popular girl recovering from closed head injury sophomore year), Shenequa (black, model, descendant of royalty and acts it), and Talia (white/Latina, transfer student), find themselves dateless 2 weeks prior to prom after McKenzie’s boyfriend breaks up with her when she “kills” him AGAIN during senior nerf wars.
To kick start Operation Prom, McKenzie has roped all the girls into prom committee AND she’s nominated all of them for prom court. McKenzie must continually keep her girls focused and on track. After initial attempts to find replacement dates fail, McKenzie unveils her big plan: speed dating for teens.
McKenzie falls for golden boy, Kent (who she doesn’t know got his last girlfriend pregnant); Talia decides it doesn’t matter who she goes with as long as she has time with her friends and ends up with her nemesis, Erik; Cassandra doesn’t want any hassle and lands a great date with McKenzie’s never quite the right time friend, Nelson; and selfish, Shenequa settles for Johnny, a nice guy who graduated last year and is ready for a prom do-over.
The girls go on test dates to get to know the boys with varying success. At the same time, prom is in jeopardy - the yacht burns down, girls’ dresses are destroyed, the DJ threatens to quit, and McKenzie is falling apart… all while trying to study for the AP exams that are scheduled for the Monday after prom … and convince her Mom she can make it all work even if she stays out all Saturday night with her friends and their dates.
Shenequa is encouraged by Johnny to be less shallow and volunteers at a soup kitchen where one of the homeless men challenges her further. Being at the shelter makes her late to the party, and have a melt down until the homeless man reminds her of what’s important.
Talia works hard to keep Erik busy so Cassandra can enjoy her date with Nelson, and earns his respect by having an appetite like a linebacker.
Poor Cassandra, taking double classes (16) to catch up and graduate with the class, falls hard for Nelson, who is in a motorcycle accident, breaks his leg, but recovers enough to take her. Her mom’s still in a wheelchair while her father died in the MVA that injured Cassandra, so she can’t take much more. She has a tough time at the pre-prom party when McKenzie and Talia have photos taken with their dads.
Kent is confronted by his ex-girlfriend, 9 months pregnant, just before he leaves for the prom, and gets high on the way. The limo breaks down, Kent is too high to continue, Shenequa melts down and leaves in the tow truck. The others get to the restaurant and support McKenzie through the destruction of her night - while watching Caleb, her childhood boyfriend and boy everyone knows she should be with, is out with another girl because McKenzie rejected him. Shenequa returns, apologizes, good again.
Finally to prom, Kent forces his way back into the group, makes everyone uncomfortable as he rejects the girls’ premise that the dates don’t include sex, and forces himself towards McKenzie, gets the chivalrous response from the boys and has Kent, McKenzie’s old boyfriend and Cassandra’s ex knocked out in one fell swoop. Kent comes back like a bad penny, is outwitted by McKenzie and ends up over the sea wall in Puget Sound. The kids go out for their post-party fun, then back to McKenzie’s. “I didn’t ask to be born, I was born to be asked” was McKenzie’s mantra, but in the end, McKenzie has grown enough to ask Caleb, so he has his chance with “I was born to be asked.”