Set in 1996 in the town of Boring, Oregon, *Everything Sucks!* follows a group of high school misfits navigating the agonizing landscape of adolescence, first love, and identity. Luke Messner, an optimistic freshman and
aspiring filmmaker, spends his days making low-budget movies with his loyal best friends, McQuaid and Tyler. Eager to escape their social irrelevance, the trio joins the A/V Club, where they cross paths with the Drama Club. There, Luke instantly falls for Kate Messner, a moody sophomore and the principal’s daughter.Luke asks Kate to collaborate on a film project, sparking a tentative romance. However, Kate is privately grappling with profound confusion regarding her sexuality. As she spends more time with Luke, she realizes she is a lesbian. Encouraged by her cool art-teacher mentor, Sherry, Kate slowly begins accepting her true identity, though the fear of public scrutiny keeps her closeted.Meanwhile, a parallel romance blossoms between Luke’s lonely single mother, Sherry Messner, and Kate’s uptight,
divorced father, Principal Ken Messner. Their developing relationship adds awkward domestic tension, especially for Luke and Kate, who are struggling to find their own footing in high school.The central narrative anchor of the first half of the season is the A/V Club and Drama Club’s collaborative movie project, *Crouching Iron, Hidden Dog*. However, disaster strikes when an accidental fire destroys the footage. Desperate to salvage the project, Luke takes the blame to protect his friends, causing a major rift in his relationship with Kate, who feels suffocated by his overwhelming affection.The emotional climax arrives at a high school dance. Luke, attempting a grand, romantic gesture, publicly confronts Kate, inadvertently pressuring her. Overwhelmed and cornered, Kate panics and publicly rejects him, which shatters Luke's heart. Shortly after, Kate finally finds the courage to come out to her father and her friends, who accept her with warmth and unconditional support.Following the fallout, Luke processes his grief and realizes his affection for Kate was partly driven by teenage desperation rather than genuine understanding. He mends fences with his friends and pours his energy back into filmmaking. The series concludes with a bittersweet, hopeful tone. Luke embarks on a cross-country bus trip to visit Kate at theater camp, determined to salvage a friendship with her, leaving their futures open to possibility as they step into a more honest version of themselves.