Jennifer Baylor, Lisa Pelikan, is a poor young woman from West Virginia who possesses a supernatural power over snakes—she can control and communicate with them. She and her father, Luke Baylor, Jeff Corey, left their home in disgrace after Jennifer was seven and snakes she had been handling killed the town preacher’s son. Luke now runs a California pet store and often urges Jennifer to use her power again, though he is mentally disabled and depends on her for meals and daily care.
Jennifer studies on a scholarship at the elite Green View School, where she stands out as an outcast among the wealthy students who are largely protected by the imperious, pill-addicted headmistress, Nina Foch. Her only real friends are Martha, the kindly lunch lady who helps with Jennifer’s tuition, played by Lillian Randolph, and Jeff Reed, the one teacher who sees the corruption underlying the school’s glittering surface, Bert Convy.
The pressure and cruelty intensify when Sandra Tremayne, an entitled bully, Amy Johnston, targets Jennifer. Sandra’s power and influence are bolstered by her father, the senator, John Gavin, whose donations keep Sandra’s behavior largely unpunished. Jennifer’s classmates—especially Jane Delano, an overweight student on the fringe of Sandra’s group, Louise Hoven—begin to oppose Sandra’s cruelties, risking their own standing in the process.
One afternoon, after Jennifer finishes her shift in the cafeteria, her clothes are stolen and hung on pipes in the pool room. While attempting to retrieve them, a photographer, Dayton Powell, Ray Underwood, snaps a flashbulb shot that startles her, causing her to fall naked into the pool. The night’s nightmare continues when Dayton corners Jane in an elevator and, taking advantage of her, rape becomes a horrifying moment that haunts Jennifer’s circle.
Worse still, Sandra buys a beloved kitten from Luke’s pet store, kills it, and hangs the bereaved animal in Jennifer’s locker. That cruel trigger leads Jennifer to reclaim her voice and unleash her serpentine power once more, using the snakes to confront and threaten Sandra directly. Jane, moved by Jennifer’s pain, agrees to ally with her in seeking retaliation against Dayton.
The cruelty reaches a climactic, terrifying peak when Sandra and her friends abduct Jennifer from her home in the middle of the night. A reluctant Jane becomes entwined in the plot, watching Dayton drive Jennifer’s friends’ cars in circles around her as she lies bound in the trunk. In the parking garage, Dayton’s reckless cruelty is met with a swarm of snakes that descend on the scene, attacking the tormentors—Dayton is driven off the roof to his death, and Sandra, fleeing in a car, crashes when a giant snake appears and causes the vehicle to burn.
Back at the school, Mrs. Calley, the headmistress, threatens Jennifer and blames her for the mysterious calamity that left several Green View students hospitalized, though the authorities have no evidence and witnesses remember nothing. After Jennifer is dismissed, Mrs. Calley is found dead—killed by a snake that Jennifer’s power summoned from the desk drawer. Jennifer and Jane hear the screams from outside and share a dark, almost relieved laughter as they step away from the chaos, leaving the hallmarks of fear and revenge behind them.
