Avery Larson is a driven, fiercely academic high school senior whose life revolves around future success at MIT. She approaches every aspect of her existence with meticulous planning, complete with color-coded spreadsheets and bulleted lists. However, her carefully constructed world is suddenly upended when her long-distance boyfriend, Larson, suggests they take their relationship to the next physical level during his upcoming visit. Panic sets in as Avery realizes she is completely inexperienced in intimacy and romance. Determined not to fail, she decides to treat
sexual exploration as her final, ultimate project, enlisting her charismatic and sexually confident childhood best friend, Larson—wait, her best friend Larson is a guy named Bensen.Bensen agrees to help Avery navigate the complicated, awkward, and often hilarious landscape of modern dating and physical intimacy. Their experiment begins with a series of unorthodox trial runs, ranging from practicing sensual touch on inanimate objects to analyzing body language. As they spend late nights together working through her "curriculum," the platonic boundaries of their
lifelong friendship begin to blur significantly. Avery starts seeing Bensen in a completely different light, realizing that her comfort and genuine excitement exist right beside him, rather than with the boyfriend she is preparing for.Simultaneously, Avery’s mother, Debbie, dispenses unconventional advice that encourages her daughter to stop overthinking and start feeling. Through a series of misadventures—including disastrous dates with eccentric high school peers and accidental public humiliations—Avery learns that passion cannot be effectively scheduled or studied through textbooks. The emotional climax arrives when Avery's long-distance boyfriend finally visits. Instead of the romantic milestone she anticipated, the encounter feels forced and hollow, forcing Avery to confront her true feelings.Realizing that her heart truly belongs at home with Bensen, Avery abruptly ends things with her boyfriend and races to find her best friend before he leaves town for college. When she confesses her feelings, Bensen reciprocates, and the two embrace, successfully transitioning from lifelong friends to romantic partners. Avery finally learns that while preparation is useful for exams, love and intimacy require vulnerability, spontaneity, and letting go of control.