Candace Park is a quiet Korean girl who takes AP classes and plays a classical instrument. She keeps her dreams of stardom and her singing ability to herself. When Candace secretly enters a global audition to be part of a K-pop trainee program, the last thing she expects is to win a spot and for her parents to let her go. Once in Korea, Candace endures a strict routine of dance lessons, Korean language lessons, diets, and tries to figure out the hierarchies among her fellow trainees and follow the "no dating" rule, which becomes a lot harder when she meets a gorgeous male trainee. As Candace gets closer to winning a spot in a much-hyped K-pop girl group, she begins to question if it's worth risking her friendships, future, and everything she believes in.