Linnéa, working under the stage name Bella Cherry, is a 19-year-old from a small town in Sweden who travels to Los Angeles in the hopes of becoming a famous porn star. Under the guidance of her manager, she begins to navigate the challenging world of the porn industry, determined to achieve more significant roles and video views by pushing herself beyond personal boundaries and limits. Bella Cherry shares a house with a group of other young aspiring actresses, and though she is standoffish and private at first, she eventually bonds with one of her housemates, Joy, who supports Bella and helps her build her brand. At a party, the girls spot Mark Spiegler, one of the most successful and demanding agents in the porn industry; he is joined by Ava, one of the biggest names in the local porn scene. Bella starts a conversation with Ava, but does not get past pleasantries. Joy tries to flirt with a famous male actor, Caesar, but when he rejects her, she retaliates by pushing him into the pool.
Bella works on several shoots, including a BDSM scene with a female director, The Director, who encourages Bella in positive, healthy ways, enforcing safety and consent on the set. However, Bella, determined to push herself further, requests hardcore scenes from her manager. While filming a rape scene with two male actors, she becomes overwhelmed and breaks down, repeatedly interrupting filming. Her co-stars and the director are initially supportive, but they quickly grow hostile and impatient when she struggles to finish the scene. Bella reluctantly agrees to complete the shoot and later confronts her manager, who reminds her that she requested harder material. Upset, Bella fires him as her manager.
Now working independently, Bella attempts to acquire Spiegler as her new manager, but he turns her down, citing her weak social media following and insisting that he only accepts actresses willing to do extreme scenes. In order to prove herself, Bella participates in an unpaid interracial threesome, in which she engages in double-anal penetration (which Bella later points out has never been done before in the industry) despite having never previously shot an anal sex scene, thus boosting her following considerably. Spiegler is impressed and agrees to hire Bella.
As a way to repay her friend, Bella requests that Joy be part of her next scene. Joy is initially thrilled, but hesitates when the lead actor withdraws at the last minute and is replaced by Caesar. Bella implores Joy to go through with the shoot, but soon observes Caesar harassing Joy off-camera. During the scene, which involves degradation and humiliation, Caesar begins to legitimately abuse Joy, who stops the scene in anger. Joy insists to the director that Caesar is harming her, but when she asks Bella to confirm Caesar's earlier harassment, Bella, worried about her reputation, balks. Furious, Joy upbraids Bella for her betrayal and storms off the set.
Bella is given a chance to film a scene with Ava, but Ava humiliates her when she refuses to perform oral sex on Bella, claiming she has a yeast infection. The scene is changed so that Bella will penetrate Ava with a strap-on, but Bella quickly lets her anger and frustration take over, acting violently and aggressively towards Ava without warning or consent, just as many of her male co-stars and directors did to her since her arrival. When Bella tries to apologize to Ava later en route to a party, Ava nonchalantly dismisses her as if nothing had bothered her, which disturbs Bella. Bella is further disillusioned when she spots her former housemates at the party, all of whom are enjoying themselves—unlike Bella, who is now essentially restricted to the VIP area. On the ride back from the party, Bella abruptly asks the car to stop so she can exit.
