Hunan province, southern China, the present day. Senior high-school student Xia Yuanyuan (Jiao Xu), 17, dreams in class about manga characters, her only real interest apart from Taiwan American singer Leehom Wang, whom she's idolised all her life. Her parents divorced when she was young and she's been raised by her paternal grandmother, who indulges her. Always bottom of the class, she has the university entrance exam in three months' time and is constantly berated by her martinet class teacher Gu (Hao Ju). After a row one day with him, she storms out and goes to the beach with biker/hippie friend Luo Tao (Nuo Lu), who is a member of the same manga-cosplay group. They both rail against the conformist world. Following his collapse after Xia Yuanyuan's walkout, Gu is ordered to rest and younger replacement teacher Li Mi (Charlene Choi) takes over. Xia Yuanyuan again walks out when she finds the words student trash written on her desk. Li Mi finds out what happened from nerdy student Gu Mingyao (Xia Hu), who's known Xia Yuanyuan since primary school and is her only real friend in class. He, however, is under intense pressure from his father to pass the entrance exam and study science and engineering at a good university. Luo Tao takes Xia Yuanyuan to a bar to relax when both of them should be at the cosplay group's rehearsal; fellow member Lisha, who likes Luo Tao, blames everything on Xia Yuanyuan. To bring the competitive class together, Li Mi pairs the students off at desks; Gu Mingyao offers to sit with Xia Yuanyuan and she starts to take more of an interest in studying, which further annoys ambitious class head Lin Wei (Jingzi Shi) who secretly fancies Gu Mingyao. Also jealous of the time that Xu Jiao now spends with Gu Mingyao is Luo Tao, who warns him off. But Gu Mingyao denies he is Xia Yuanyuan's boyfriend, just as Xia Yuanyuan denies she is Luo Tao's girlfriend.