As high school senior Andie Walsh gets ready for her day, she dresses in eclectic, second-hand clothes that match the pink of her room. She awakens her father, Jack Walsh, and encourages him to look for a job. He apologizes for coming home late and not spending enough time with her, and inquires how things are going at school and whether she has been asked to the prom. When Andie arrives at school, expensive motorbikes and cars belonging to "richie" students are parked in front of the building. Despite their difference in social status, Andie's classmate, Blane, amorously watches her walk through the school hallway. Her best friend, "Duckie" Dale, meets Andie at her locker and reveals his admiration with sincere but nutty, off-handed compliments. Like Andie, Duckie wears unconventional, mismatched clothes. In the classroom, Benny Hanson, a blonde "richie" girl, makes fun of Andie's clothes. The teacher apologizes to Andie for Benny's behavior and, although Andie tries to prevent her from being punished, Benny opts to accept extra homework rather than recognize Andie's attempts at goodwill. After school, as she gets into her old, pink Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, Andie clashes with Steff McKee, another "richie." When she rejects his sexual propositions, he calls her a bitch. At Trax, the record store where Andie works, the owner, Iona, talks about a friend who always regretted missing her high school prom and suggests that Andie go to hers. When Blane, Andie's "richie" admirer from afar, comes into Trax, he asks for her opinion about his choice of records. They are clearly uncool, but Andie tells him they are "white hot" and encourages him to buy. That night, at a nightclub, Cats, Andie asks her friends, Jena and Simon, what they would think about her dating a rich guy. Jena expresses disapproval. Though his equally under-aged friends have been allowed into the club, Duckie waits outside for Andie and jokes with the bouncer that he is never allowed inside. When Andie drives Duckie home, she detours through a wealthy neighborhood with beautiful mansions. She pulls over to admire her favorite and wonders what it looks like inside. Back at school, while working on a computer at the library, Andie receives an on-screen message from Blane, and is flattered by his attention. Meanwhile, Duckie waits for Andie outside her house and confesses to Jack that he has feelings for his daughter and would like to marry Andie. Jack tells him that he is still in love with Andie's mother, who left their family three years ago, and warns Duckie that nothing can be done to force the love of another. Back at Trax, Blane shows up during Andie's shift and jokingly complains about the record she sold him. While Andie plays along and suggests alternatives, the security alarm in the backroom goes off. Andie is annoyed when she finds that it was triggered by Duckie, and, upon returning to the store, is devastated when she sees Blane leave with Steff. When Andie comes home from work, she has several answering machine messages from Duckie, but nothing from Blane. She picks up the receiver to call Blane, but hangs up before dialing. The next morning, Jack tells Andie he has found a job, but is vague about the details. At school, Blane finds Andie outside in the yard where "richies" don't usually go, and asks her on a date. She accepts, but asks him to pick her up at Trax instead of her home. In the school hallway, Steff tells Blane that he disapproves of Blane's friendship with Andie. Later, Andie and Duckie study history at Andie's house and she accuses him of deliberately flunking his classes to avoid graduating. When Andie goes to the kitchen for drinks, Duckie decides that he should tell her about his feelings for her, but when she returns, he loses his nerve and rushes home. When Andie and her friend Jena are expelled from gym class for offending Benny, Andie tells the school principal that she is tired of being treated poorly by the rich students. Hearing about the incident, Duckie rushes to meet her; but when he jokingly provokes the other male students by threatening to beat one of them up, they throw him into a girls' bathroom. While waiting for Blane to pick her up at Trax, Andie and Iona listen to the Otis Redding recording of "Try a Little Tenderness." Duckie enters and lip-synchs the song as a serenade to Andie, who is upset because it seems that Blane has stood her up. When Blane finally arrives, Duckie is devastated and warns Andie that she will get used and hurt. She tells Duckie that judging people negatively because they have money is just as bad as being judged by them for being poor, but he threatens to drop Andie as a friend if she goes out with Blane. Despite her objections, Blane takes Andie to Steff's party, which turns out to be at the mansion she previously admired with Duckie. In her hand-made dress and fake pearls, Andie is uncomfortable around the rich students who do not hide their disdain for her. Blane convinces Andie to go upstairs away from the spiteful crowd, but they encounter Steff and Benny in one of the bedrooms. Benny drunkenly rebukes Blane for bringing Andie to the party. Blane asks Andie to forgive him and apologizes for his friends' behavior. After leaving the party, they go to Cats, where Iona has managed to get Duckie inside by telling the bouncer he is her son. Duckie acts as rudely toward Blane as the kids at the party were with Andie and kisses Iona to make Andie jealous. Embarrassed by her financial standing, Andie does not want Blane to drive her home and see where she lives, but when they arrive at her house, he asks her to the prom and she kisses him. Closing the front door behind her, Andie lets out an excited scream and tells Jack that she is going. When he asks her if she is in love, she says that she thinks she is, but he is a "richie" and their friends will not accept the relationship. He encourages her to follow her heart, regardless of the opinion of others, and expresses regret that her mother could not be acting in his role. The next day, Andie visits Iona at her apartment in Chinatown to tell her about the date. As Duckie watches from outside, Iona shows Andie her pink prom dress and confesses that Duckie's kiss made her thighs burn. When Andie tells Iona that Blane asked her to prom, she becomes nostalgic for the past and dances with Andie in her prom dress and a beehive hairdo. Back at Steff's house, Steff tells Blane that he must choose between his friends and family and his relationship with Andie, causing Blane to doubt himself. During the couple's next date at the Chestnut Hills Hunt Club, Andie tells Blane that if someone does not believe in her, then she cannot believe in them, and he vows to make their relationship work. Meanwhile, Duckie remains tortured by jealousy and loneliness. In preparation for the prom, Andie goes to a store but becomes frustrated by the high prices of dresses and quickly leaves after seeing Benny in the dressing room. Not knowing what is happening with Blane, she tries to reach him over the phone, but he refuses to answer. Although Jack has told Andie he has a job, she notices his car in the driveway at a time when he should be at work. When he comes to her room with a pink prom dress, Andie rebukes him for lying about getting a job and pointedly reminds him that her mother is not coming back into their lives and that he needs to accept this and move on. Telling Andie that he is proud of her mature perspective, Jack leaves her room. She looks at a picture of her mother and cries. The next day at school, Andie confronts Blane and demands that he admit to being ashamed of having her as his girlfriend. Blane lies that he had previously asked another girl to the prom and forgot, but Andie rejects his insincerity as Steff and Duckie look on. Upon hearing Steff tell Blane that Andie is worthless, Duckie attacks him in the hall. Andie decides that she will still attend the prom without Blane and goes to Iona's apartment to ask for her prom dress. At home, Andie constructs a prom dress out of the two pink dresses she has received from her father and Iona. Arriving at the prom, Andie is happy and surprised to see Duckie, who is nicely dressed but still wearing his old white shoes, and they enter the ballroom together. Blane realizes that Steff was after Andie all along and accuses him of being vengeful because he couldn't buy her the way he does everything else in his life. Blane then approaches Andie and tells her that he always believed in her, but she did not believe in him, and that he loves her. As Blane leaves the dance, he kisses Andie on the cheek and whispers "Always" in her ear. Duckie admits to Andie that Blane is not like the others and urges her to pursue him. A beautiful blond girl then notices Duckie and he joins her on the dance floor. Andie and Blane are reunited in the parking lot and kiss.