In the fictional town of Little Hope, New Hampshire, Suzanne Stone is a glamorous and ambitious young woman who has long for a career in television and dreams of becoming a world-famous broadcast journalist. She falls into a passionate romance with Larry Maretto, an Italian American whose family disapproves of the match, and the two marry despite the differences between their backgrounds. Suzanne uses her new access to the Marettos’ restaurant business to stabilize her finances while pursuing a role at WWEN, a local cable station, where she starts as an assistant and chases opportunities to rise through the ranks. Through relentless persistence, she earns a promotion to the station’s evening weather report, leveraging every small victory to push herself further toward prominence.
As Suzanne’s ambition grows, she visits a local high school to recruit subjects for a documentary she is producing, titled “Teens Speak Out.” There she quickly draws the attention of two troubled youths, Jimmy Emmett and Russell Hines, and she befriends Lydia Mertz, a shy girl who admires Suzanne’s style and confidence. Larry, meanwhile, becomes increasingly insistent that Suzanne give up her career to help at the restaurant and start a family, which only fuels Suzanne’s sense that her dream is slipping away. Viewing him as an obstacle to her future, she begins laying the groundwork for a drastic plan.
Suzanne entices Jimmy and persuades him to murder Larry, presenting a deception in which Larry is accused of abusing Suzanne and promising them a future together in California once Larry is dead. She also manipulates Lydia into helping by procuring a gun. One night, while Suzanne is delivering the weather report, Jimmy and Russell break into the Marettos’ condo, and Jimmy shoots Larry. The police later determine the death resulted from a botched burglary, but they uncover a clip from “Teens Speak Out” that points to Suzanne’s involvement with Jimmy. Lydia collaborates with the police, wearing a wire to trap Suzanne, who naïvely argues that police used entrapment. Suzanne is released on bail, and all charges are eventually dropped.
The case captures media attention, and Suzanne spins the narrative to her advantage, claiming that Larry was a cocaine addict who was murdered by Jimmy and Russell, his supposed dealers. Jimmy and Russell receive life sentences, with Russell’s later sentence reduced and Lydia released on probation. Meanwhile, Larry’s father, Joe, comes to suspect Suzanne’s complicity and uses his mafia connections to have her targeted. A hitman, posing as a movie studio executive, lures Suzanne away from her home, shoots her, and hides her body beneath a frozen lake.
In the aftermath, Lydia recounts her side of the story in a televised interview, which garners national attention and elevates her into a celebrity. Janice, Larry’s sister who always disliked Suzanne, practices her figure skating on the frozen lake where Suzanne’s body lies, bringing the tragic arc to a chilling close.
