The Drama

At a café in Boston, Charlie Thompson approaches Emma Harwood while she is reading, pretending he has read the same book. Emma seemingly ignores him, and he returns to his seat before approaching her again to apologize for making her uncomfortable. Emma then notices him and explains that she is deaf in one ear and had not heard him earlier, and invites him to retry his original approach, leading to a date.

Two years later, Emma and Charlie are to be married within a week. One night, they witness their wedding DJ, Pauline, smoking heroin in a public park. They later discuss the incident with Mike and his wife Rachel, who are to be their best man and maid of honor, respectively. While deliberating over whether to fire Pauline, Emma defends her, saying each of them has probably done bad things. The group takes turns admitting the worst thing each of them has done: Mike used his ex-girlfriend as a human shield during a dog attack, Rachel locked her "slow" childhood neighbor in an abandoned trailer overnight, and Charlie cyberbullied a classmate so severely that his family moved away. Emma hesitantly reveals that when she was fifteen, she planned to commit a school shooting; her partial deafness resulted from practice firing a rifle too close to her ear, though she had previously told Charlie she was born deaf. The revelation shocks everyone but particularly angers Rachel, whose cousin Samantha was paralyzed in a shooting.

Charlie begins reconsidering how well he knows Emma. When pressed, Emma explains that she planned the shooting when she was depressed and bullied. She became drawn to the online communities around gun violence, but abandoned her plan after seeing how another mass shooting negatively affected her community and instead began advocating for gun control, finally making friends among her fellow activists. They awkwardly continue preparing for the wedding under increasing strain on their relationship. Emma begins having shooting-related nightmares, while Charlie grows paranoid regarding her mental state and fixates on gun-related imagery.

Rachel repeatedly ignores Emma to the point that she is incommunicado about a project Emma's office hired her for. When Emma inadvertently recommends to her boss that Rachel be removed from the project, Rachel ends their friendship and decides not to attend the wedding. However, Charlie later persuades her to go and attempts to defend Emma. He shortly thereafter has an awkward encounter with Samantha, who he frantically assures "would love Emma".

While at work, Charlie asks his co-worker Misha how she would react if she learned her boyfriend Blake had planned a school shooting in his youth. When Misha says she would call the police, a distraught Charlie storms out and breaks down in tears. As Misha attempts to comfort him, he kisses her and begins removing her clothes but quickly stops himself. They agree not to tell their respective partners about their encounter. Charlie and Emma later have a tense meeting with Pauline, where Emma reveals what they saw and ultimately fires her despite Pauline swearing her innocence, while Charlie becomes stressed after his encounter with Misha.

At Charlie and Emma's wedding reception, Rachel drunkenly gives a passive-aggressive speech. She derides Emma for her dishonesty and Charlie for going through with the wedding, which increases Emma's anxiety. In the bathroom, Emma overhears Misha discussing a school shooting. Emma alerts Charlie to her concerns that the attendees are gossiping about them, and pulls Misha aside to confront her. Mistakenly believing Emma is referring to her tryst with Charlie, Misha blames Charlie for kissing her first, to Emma's shock. Charlie gives a disastrous speech reaffirming his love for Emma, assuring the guests that Emma "didn't do anything", and apologizing for cheating on her with Misha. Blake furiously confronts and attacks Charlie, and Emma leaves during the ensuing chaos.

A bloodied and miserable Charlie returns to their apartment in search of Emma. After failing to find or contact her, he goes to his and Emma's favorite diner – where Emma had previously suggested they go after the wedding – alone. Emma soon arrives and sits across from him. They reintroduce themselves as if meeting for the first time, and smile tearfully at one another.