Sophie is desperate to go on a school ski trip but financial issues get in the way.
Annie and Nikki are former high school outcasts whose pasts inform their current parenting styles. Annie, who was raised in an ultra-strict, uber-religious household where she had little-to-no freedom, pretty much allows her daughter, Sophie, to do whatever she wants. Nikki, once an unpopular, overweight social pariah, has reinvented herself as a pretty Southern belle whose top priority is providing her daughter, Mackenzie, with the childhood she never had.
Sophie and Mackenzie are best friends, which leads to a lot of co-parenting for Annie and Nikki. They have given the girls everything they asked for and everything they never had: clothes, money and self-esteem. The unintended consequence is they have created two mean girls just like the ones who tortured them years ago. Sophie finds her mother embarrassing and mocks her at every opportunity, but she secretly needs her mom and knows that her behavior is not always appropriate. Mackenzie, on the other hand, is the more manipulative of the daughters - she knows how to work her mother's insecurities to her benefit.
Annie's ex-husband, Matt, wants to be a good parent, but is too clueless to know what that even means. That leaves his brother, Jack, an attractive, high-powered attorney, to serve as more of a father figure for Sophie. Jack's meddling would annoy Annie more if she didn't have such a crush on him. Gary, Nikki's ex, also tries to help raise his challenging daughter, but the couple's complicated relationship often makes his involvement more difficult.
As their daughters begin to experience their first high school dances and other life-changing teen events, Annie and Nikki are often reminded of their own tortured adolescent years. But when Sophie and Mackenzie's mean-girl antics cross the line, the moms quickly realize that they must, for the first time, dole out some real punishment and fix what is broken. They have no idea how to do that, but they do know one thing: They can't do it without each other.