The Drama

At a Boston café, Charlie Thompson approaches Emma Harwood while she is reading, pretending to have read the same book. Emma seems to ignore him, so he returns to his seat and later apologizes for his approach. Emma then explains that she is deaf in one ear and did not hear him and invites Charlie to retry his approach, leading to a date.

Two years later, Emma and Charlie are due to be married in a week. They see their wedding DJ, Pauline, smoking heroin in a public park. While discussing whether to fire her with Mike and Rachel, their best man and matron of honor, Emma argues that everyone has done bad things, prompting the group to confess their worst actions: Mike admits he used an ex-girlfriend as a human shield during a dog attack and Rachel confesses to locking her "slow" childhood neighbor in an abandoned trailer overnight. Charlie is pressured to share that he relentlessly cyberbullied a classmate who later moved away. Emma reveals she planned a school shooting as a teenager and that her deafness, which she claimed was congenital, was caused by firing a practice rifle close to her ear. The confession horrifies the group, especially Rachel, whose cousin Samantha was paralyzed in a shooting.

Charlie starts questioning how well he knows Emma. When pressed, Emma explains that she planned the shooting while depressed and bullied, and had been drawn to online communities focused on gun violence. She abandoned the plan after seeing how a mass shooting harmed her community and turned to gun control advocacy, finding friends and purpose among the activists. They awkwardly continue wedding preparations under growing strain. Emma begins having shooting-related nightmares, while Charlie grows paranoid about her mental state and fixates on violent imagery.

Rachel repeatedly ignores Emma, refusing to communicate regarding a project Emma's office hired her for. When Emma inadvertently suggests to her boss that Rachel be removed from the project, Rachel ends their friendship and refuses to attend the wedding. Charlie persuades her to reconsider and tries to defend Emma. He then awkwardly encounters Samantha, and assures her that she "would love Emma".

At work, Charlie asks his co-worker Misha how she would react if her boyfriend, Blake, planned a school shooting. When Misha says she would call the police, Charlie breaks down; as Misha attempts to comfort him, they kiss, but he stops before they have sex, and they agree not to tell their partners about the incident. Later, Charlie and Emma have a tense meeting to fire Pauline, during which Charlie remains stressed by his encounter with Misha.

At the wedding reception, a drunken Rachel delivers a passive-aggressive speech, deriding Emma for dishonesty and Charlie for marrying her, heightening Emma's anxiety. In the bathroom, Emma overhears Misha mentioning someone planning a school shooting. Misinterpreting this as gossip about her, Emma confronts Misha; Misha, assuming Emma is referring to her sexual encounter with Charlie, blames Charlie for kissing her. Charlie gives a disastrous speech, apologizing for cheating and assuring guests Emma "didn't do anything". Blake attacks Charlie, and Emma leaves.

A bloodied Charlie frantically searches for Emma; he eventually travels to their favorite diner, where Emma had previously suggested they go after the wedding. Emma soon arrives, and they reintroduce themselves as if meeting for the first time, smiling tearfully at one another.