The film begins with Alike and Laura at a gay club. They go home when the night is finished and we see Alike change out of her clothes into different ones. Her mother is waiting up for her and wants to know where she's been. Alike lies and tells her she lost track of time. Later Alike asks Laura to get her a strap-on which she wears on their next night out in the club in order to pick up a girl. Nonetheless, she throws it away at the end of the night once she's home.
Audrey, Alike's mother, introduces her to Bina, a daughter of a co-worker in hopes that Alike will stop spending time with Laura. Alike doesn't like the idea, but eventually the pair for a relationship and soon after Bina kisses Alike, which frightens her off. But, when given a second chance during a sleepover the two spend the night together intimately. This is Alike's first time with anyone. In the morning Bina rejects Alike saying that she isn't really gay, and asks her not to tell anyone. Alike is infuriated and trashes her room when she gets home. She wakes up to her parents fighting. She tells her sister, Sharonda, to go back into her room and lock the door, and attempts to stop her parents' fight. However, when she does her mother demands to know if she is gay and Alike says that she is a lesbian and her mother strikes her multiple times.
Alike goes to Laura's to stay with her, and Audrey carries on as normal. Arthur, Alike's dad, goes to her and attempts to find forgiveness from her for not protecting her from her mother. Alike simply tells him that she is going to enroll early in college in Berkeley, California, and needs him to sign the paperwork to release her as she's set on going to the writing intensive she's been selected to join. He signs the papers for her, and before she leaves Alike attempts to reconcile with her mother, telling her she loves her. Her mother responds only by saying she's praying for her. Alike reads her newest poem to her teacher which is the most vulnerable, deep, and expressive work she's done to date. We then see her on a bus after hugging her father goodbye. She is on her way to Berkeley.
