An 18-year-old Alison Rey has been struggling to keep her mom happy ever since the divorce, it's as if Alison was groomed to constantly look after her mother's mood. Alison's been dealing with some online bullying, but she doesn't dare bring it up to her mother. A group of mean girls have separated kids into groups: geeks, jocks, stoners, and dykes, and they categorized Alison as a dyke! Alison is trying to wrap her head around this as her mother knocks on her locked door, "honey, I have chosen the perfect beauty pageant coach, and she'll be here today!" Alison feels as if she's going to explode! Her heart wants to play soccer, but her mother is convinced that she should follow the path that she took-pageantry.

Alison meets Charlotte, a bubbly, self-absorbed, thin woman. On their first meeting, Alison is convinced she hates Charlotte, and that she struggles to find her voice to say no to following in her mother's footsteps. Charlotte listens to Alison's problems, and while she's not convinced that Alison should give up on pageantry, she is empathetic. Alison begins to find a common thread with Charlotte. The more the two meet, the closer the two become, until Charlotte confesses to Alison, "I'm just like you, and pageantry is the perfect place for a young lesbian to get her start."