Content Warning: The text and this guide describe sexual harassment and assault as well as murder.

Dr. Scarlett Clark, an English professor at Gorman University, has snuck into the garage which her student Tyler Elkin uses as his home gym. Tyler is a star quarterback, an avid fitness enthusiast, and prolific Instagram poster. He is also a rapist, part of a group of five students who sexually assaulted fellow student Megan Foster during a fraternity party. Scarlett has laced his homemade energy drink with strychnine. Concealing herself, she waits for Tyler to consume the beverage. After drinking half of it, he begins to convulse; shortly thereafter, he is dead. Finding the selfie he took on his morning run only minutes before, Scarlett posts it to Instagram along with a brief suicide note.

Carly Schiller is a freshman at Gorman. She arrives at her dorm on a sweltering day, driven by her parents. Her relationship with her father is strained, as he is a domineering, emotionally abusive man. Carly cannot wait for her parents to leave. She meets her sophomore roommate Allison Hadley, a glamorous, self-assured girl unlike herself. After a brief introduction, Allison leaves with