Clarissa Lake, queen of Laketown High School, has hated rough, working-class, devil-may-care William Stevenson ever since the first day he stepped into the school and decided he wouldn't play by her rules. Until one night, when Clarissa and William meet at a masqueare ball at Clarissa's mansion. The sworn enemies, now hiding behind masks, none of them realizing who the other person is, start talking and dancing, and there's a spark.