Set in the 1950s, Sabrina Masterson is a wealthy, self-assured teenager whose mother believes she’s too spoiled and troublesome to stay at home. She is sent to live at Alpha Beta Pi, a college sorority house, where she immediately makes a splash as the most outspoken new member and is slotted as the roommate of Rita Summers, the sorority president and the campus’s beloved star. The arrangement sets up a tense dynamic from the start, as Sabrina’s bright smile hides a calculating interest in the bar owner Mort, a man who dreams of medical school and a future as a doctor, and who seems mostly unmoved by Sabrina’s attention.
What follows is a web of power plays, social maneuvering, and whispered schemes. Sabrina’s attraction to Mort becomes a catalyst for a colder, more vindictive side of her personality. She begins to test Rita and her close circle—Tina and Ellie—by turning on the charm one moment and then pulling the rug out the next, embarrassing them in front of friends and using catty remarks to undermine their confidence. Yet, Rita remains determined to extend kindness, sharing with Sabrina the softer parts of her life, including the difficult relationship she has with her own mother, who often appears too preoccupied to listen. Sabrina’s response is a calculated dismissal of that hardship, insisting that her own mother is perfectly supportive, a claim that will soon be contested.
A family visit from Mrs. Masterson introduces a sharper edge to Sabrina’s world. Mrs. Masterson arrives with the stern message that Sabrina should aspire to be more like her older sister Julia, a former sorority president, and she even cuts Sabrina’s allowance for breaking a house rule. The real consequences of Sabrina’s behavior begin to unfold as she secretly helps Tina when Tina confides in her about an unwanted pregnancy and the possibility of abortion, earning Tina’s trust through calculated, protective-sounding actions that mask Sabrina’s true intent.
The power struggle intensifies as Sabrina pushes her way onto the sorority leadership stage. When Tina and Ellie nominate Sabrina for president, Rita faces a direct challenge. Sabrina, ever the strategist, discovers that she can secure the presidency by boosting her French grade—and she even goes as far as seducing her French teacher and leveraging blackmail to secure the edge she needs.
But Sabrina’s most ruthless tactic is to pressure Rita into ceding the presidency by threatening to reveal a deeply personal secret. The plan is to use fear and leverage to force Rita to step aside, and Sabrina’s ambition only grows as she encounters resistance from Mort, who bluntly rejects her advances and refuses to become part of Sabrina’s schemes. The rift widens when Sabrina ignites jealousy by spreading rumors and using secrets against Rita.
As the drama escalates, Tina’s life spirals: she leaves for Tijuana in an attempt to pursue an abortion she never completes, and Sabrina’s web of manipulation widens to include more people. Eventually, a brutal confrontation unfolds as Mort’s loyalty to Rita is tested and Sabrina’s manipulation begins to unravel. The two lovers clash in Mort’s bar, a scene that ends with Sabrina striking out violently and locking Rita and Mort inside before setting the venue on fire. The blaze prompts a rescue by Jimmy, but Sabrina is left to answer for her actions as the authorities close in and she is arrested.
Throughout this perilous summer of secrets, power, and revenge, the film tracks the fragile lines between affection and cruelty, loyalty and deceit, and the fragile dream of social standing against the brutal consequences of manipulation. The story ends with the bitter realization that a glamourous veneer can crumble under the weight of lies, and the sharp, unintended consequences of ambition can engulf everyone caught in its wake.
