In the fictional town of Little Hope, New Hampshire, the glamorous and ambitious Suzanne Stone is driven by a fierce desire to be on television and to become a world-famous broadcast journalist. Her romance with Larry Maretto, an Italian American whose parents disapprove, quickly leads to marriage. With her family’s restaurant business helping to keep things afloat, Suzanne lands a job at WWEN, a local cable station, and she channels relentless energy into climbing the network ladder until she earns the chance to deliver the station’s evening weather report.
Suzanne expands her reach by producing a documentary called “Teens Speak Out” and recruiting young subjects from a local high school. She instantly connects with two troubled teens, Jimmy Emmett and Russell Hines, and befriends Lydia Mertz, a shy girl who admires Suzanne’s glamour and worldliness. Meanwhile, Larry presses Suzanne to abandon her career in favor of helping at the restaurant and starting a family. When he becomes insistent, Suzanne begins to see him as an obstacle to her future and hatches a dangerous plan. She seduces Jimmy and convinces him to murder Larry by falsely alleging abuse and promising a future in California after Larry’s death. She also manipulates Lydia into obtaining a gun. One night, as Suzanne reports the weather on air, Jimmy and Russell break into the Marettos’ condo, and Jimmy shoots Larry.
Police initially rule Larry’s death a botched burglary, but they soon uncover a clip from Suzanne at the school that ties her to the “Teens Speak Out” project. The teenagers are arrested, and Lydia agrees to wear a wire to talk with Suzanne. In the interview, Suzanne unwittingly reveals her role in the murder, yet she insists that the police entrapped her and she is released on bail. With the charges dropped, Suzanne basks in the media spotlight and spins a sensational story—Larry was a cocaine addict and was murdered by Jimmy and Russell, his supposed dealers. Jimmy and Russell are sentenced to life in prison, Russell’s sentence later reduced, and Lydia is released on probation.
Behind the scenes, Larry’s father, Joe, realizes Suzanne’s hand in his son’s death and leverages mafia connections to have her killed. A hitman, posing as a movie-studio executive, lures Suzanne away from home, shoots her, and hides her body beneath a frozen lake.
Lydia later shares her side of the story in a televised interview, garnering national attention. Meanwhile, Janice, Larry’s sister who always despised Suzanne, practices her ice skating on the very lake where Suzanne’s body lies, giving a stark, personal coda to the tale.
