Three wealthy, savvy high school seniors have everything they think they need: brains, beauty, money, popularity, powerful parents, and devoted boyfriends. Stream Hodsell is a smart, down-to-earth strawberry blonde; Jenny Simon is sassy and hides her intelligence behind fishnet stockings; Nell Kellner feels deeply and emotionally; the trio attends the prestigious, expensive Halton School in Manhattan.
Stream’s first sexual experience with Chad leaves more questions than satisfaction. It isn’t as amazing as she hoped, and she’s unsure what’s missing. Jenny and Nell try to reassure her, telling her that fulfillment can come with time, so Stream keeps exploring. Their mother’s casual wisdom about women’s bodies—“many women suffer from rarely climaxing”—adds another layer of curiosity and determination. With that nagging doubt, Stream dives into self-help books, glossy magazines, and the often misguided advice circulating among friends, hoping to unlock the elusive sensation she’s been seeking.
One evening, alone with Chad, Stream tries to raise the subject of her sexual lack of fulfillment. He claims to love her, then forces her to perform oral sex. Around them, Jenny enjoys a version of pleasure with Louie, while Nell stays cool, gently steering Petrus away when he brings up sex. Meanwhile, Judy Hodsell, Stream’s distracted mom, is dating a white South African artist, and she vents about the tensions with Stream’s father, Dick Hodsell, who has a new young girlfriend, Mimi.
At Stream’s second SAT sitting, she chats with Henry Lipschitz Rockefeller, a garage-band musician, before Chad pulls her away. After dinner, Chad gives her ecstasy, which heightens her arousal and leads her to believe she’s finally had an orgasm. Later, she reports her news to Jenny, but moments afterward she has her first real orgasm from one of the Jacuzzi jets.
Shortly after, the three friends experience turbulence in their relationships and begin to drift apart. Stream tells Chad he’s never given her an orgasm, Louie tells Jenny they lack a deeper connection, and Nell struggles even with a simple kiss for Petrus. The trio then heads to an upscale bar hoping to meet more worldly guys, and Nell is approached by a modeling agency, hinting at a new path for her.
When early admission decisions arrive, Nell is accepted to Yale, while Stream and Jenny face different outcomes with their applications. Stream is disappointed, and Judy calls a feel-good career counselor, Mr. Jennings, who encourages her to support Stream. The moment she sees a strip of condoms, Stream’s worry deepens, and she agrees to seek psychiatric help.
Both Stream and Jenny place personal ads in the paper. Stream’s attempt to find someone to help her climax proves unsuccessful, while Jenny’s personal ad doesn’t even appear. At Nell’s second photo shoot, a male photographer propositiones her, and she leaves in disgust. Soon after, Nell calls the others, revealing she’s swallowed the rest of her Prozac prescription, though there were only three pills left. After spotting an advertisement for Henry’s band on television, Stream convinces the trio to attend the gig; Nell stays behind, meeting the female drummer, and confides to the others the next day that she finally had an orgasm—though it came with a complex mix of emotions.
Stream and Jenny both gain admission to prestigious schools—Stream to Harvard and Jenny to Brown—while Nell decides not to go to Yale after all. Stream approaches Henry, who has been accepted into both Yale and Harvard, and he accepts her invitation with a kiss. When she later asks why he hadn’t kissed her at New Year’s, he explains that they hadn’t known each other well enough at that time. In the end, the two share a moment of genuine connection and mutual understanding, culminating in a shared sense of climax and emotional closeness as they acknowledge their feelings for one another.
