In the locker room at her high school, shy teenager Carrie White notices blood running down her legs in the shower. Unaware that she is menstruating for the first time, she panics and screams for help. She is teased by classmates Sue Snell, Chris Hargenson, and Norma, who are reprimanded by the gym teacher, Miss Collins. Carrie becomes hysterical and Collins slaps her to calm her down. Carrie is sent to the office of the principal, who expresses disbelief that a girl Carrie's age is unfamiliar with the concept of menstruation. When the principal accidentally calls the girl “Cassie” for the third time, Carrie loses her temper and an ashtray shoots off the desk as she runs out of the room. On her walk home, Carrie is taunted by a younger boy on a bicycle, who calls her "creepy Carrie." Her eyes go wide and the boy flies off his bike. Later, Carrie’s mother, Margaret White, a religious fanatic, receives a call from the school, informing her why Carrie left school early. After the call, Margaret hits Carrie and blames her menstruation on lustful thoughts. Carrie pleads innocence, but Margaret locks her in a closet. Inside the closet, a statue of St. Sebastian torments Carrie with its glowing eyes and arrows protruding from its sides. Later, when a distraught Carrie looks in her bedroom mirror, it cracks. The next day, in gym class, Miss Collins punishes the girls who bullied Carrie by assigning them an hour of calisthenics for the next three days, or else they will not be allowed to attend prom. Chris Hargenson disrespects the gym teacher, who slaps the girl’s face. Collins tells Chris she cannot go to prom, and Chris storms off. Meanwhile, in the library, Carrie searches for books on the paranormal, and finds a book on telekinesis. After school, Sue Snell asks her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, to take Carrie to the prom. Tommy reluctantly agrees. That night, Chris persuades her boyfriend, Billy Nolan, to help her get revenge on Carrie. The next day, Tommy asks Carrie to the prom, but she refuses. In the gym's stairwell, Carrie tells Miss Collins that Tommy asked her to the prom to trick her. Collins says that Carrie has to change her attitude, and that, with a little makeup, she could show everyone how beautiful she is. Collins later confronts Sue and Tommy, who claim they are only trying to be nice to Carrie. Tommy goes to Carrie’s house to ask her to the prom again, but Carrie urges him to go away as her mother is home. Tommy presses her until Carrie finally agrees to be his date. Later that night, Chris, Billy, and Billy’s friend, Freddy, break into a pig farm. To Chris’s excited screams, Billy repeatedly smashes a pig’s head. Meanwhile, Margaret denies Carrie permission to attend prom. When Carrie resists, Margaret throws water in her face and tells her to get in the closet. Margaret gets up to close the windows, but they shut by themselves. Carrie warns Margaret that she can move things with her mind, and things are going to be different now. Margaret calls her a witch and says she has Satan’s power. At school, news spreads that Tommy is going to the prom with Carrie. One girl asks Sue why Tommy is not taking her, and Sue explains that she is helping the girl. Carrie makes her own gown for the prom. As she gets ready, Margaret demands that she take off the dress and burn it. When Carrie refuses, Margaret warns Carrie that everyone is going to laugh at her and begs Carrie not to go. Margaret screams and scratches at her own face, but Carrie orders her to sit down and be quiet, causing Margaret to fall into the bed, paralyzed. At the prom, people are shocked by how pretty Carrie looks. Miss Collins hugs the girl and tells her she will never forget this moment. Tommy coaxes her onto the dancefloor. Carrie stumbles, but Tommy pulls her close and kisses her. She asks what prompted him to invite her to the prom, and he recalls that she liked his poem in English class. When promgoers fill out ballots for prom king and queen, Tommy suggests that he and Carrie vote for themselves. Norma and Freddy collect the ballots, then switch them out with fake ones. Meanwhile, Sue has sneaked into the gym. Tommy and Carrie are announced as prom king and queen, and Sue runs backstage to get a better look. She notices a rope leading up to a bucket, then sees Chris and Billy under the stage. Before she can warn Carrie, Sue is grabbed by Miss Collins and led out of the gym. As a crown is placed on Carrie's head, Chris pulls the rope attached to the bucket, and pig blood rains down on Carrie. The emptied bucket falls, hitting Tommy on the head and knocking him out. Hearing her mother’s voice say, “They will all laugh at you”, Carrie imagines that the principal, Miss Collins, and all the students are laughing at her. Her eyes go wide and all the lights go out in the school gym. Doors and windows slam shut, and a fire hose sprays the crowd. A teacher and the principal are electrocuted as they fight over the microphone. A falling backboard slices Collins in half. The gym bursts into flames and a blood-soaked Carrie walks out, leaving everyone to burn. Chris spots Carrie walking home and tries to run her over, but Carrie causes the car to catch fire. At home, Carrie finds candles burning throughout the house. She draws herself a bath and cries as she washes off the pig’s blood. In the bedroom, she finds her mother in a white nightgown. Margaret confesses to Carrie that the first time she had sex with Carrie’s father, he was drunk. She claims that he raped her and she liked it. Thus, Carrie was born of sin and Margaret should have killed her at birth. They kneel to pray, and Margaret stabs Carrie with a butcher knife. Carrie falls down the stairs, but as her mother approaches, knives fly across the room and impale Margaret in the same position as the St. Sebastian statue. Carrie removes the knives as the house catches fire, and drags Margaret into the closet as the house sinks into the earth. Days later, Sue dreams she is wearing a white nightgown and holding flowers. She comes to a pile of black rocks with a “for sale” sign that is shaped like a cross. “Carrie White burns in Hell” is written on it. As Sue places the flowers by the sign, a bloody hand reaches up and grabs her. Sue wakes up screaming and her mother tries to comfort her.