Shy 16-year-old Carrie White, who lives with her fanatically religious mother Margaret, is unpopular at school and is often bullied by her peers. When Carrie experiences her first period in the school shower, she panics because she was never told about this process. Carrie's classmates humiliate her by throwing tampons at her while chanting "Plug it up!" until the gym teacher, Miss Collins, intervenes. Following conversations with Miss Collins and the principal, Carrie is dismissed from school for the day. After arriving home, Margaret tells Carrie that her menstruation was caused by sin, and she locks Carrie in an altar-like "prayer closet" to pray for forgiveness. At school, Collins reprimands Carrie's tormentors and punishes them with a week-long after-school detention in gym class. She threatens that those who skip the punitive measure will be suspended for three days and barred from the upcoming prom. However, Carrie's longtime bully, the wealthy and popular Christine "Chris" Hargensen, walks out.