Candidate America Singer is a fifth grade girl in the state of Ilia. When she receives a summons to participate as a candidate in the selection, a competition between 35 girls for the heart of Prince Maxon and the crown, her family is very enthusiastic about the possibility that opens up to them to climb the class ladder. But America is not interested in participating in the competition. First of all, she doesn't like the stiff and arrogant Prince Maxon at all. But the real reason is her secret and forbidden love for Laspen, a guy from class six, who is even shorter than her. After relentless pressure from her family and from Aspen himself, she finds herself, against her will, in the magnificent palace, facing 34 excited girls from around the kingdom. Most of them come from higher classes than her, and are much more sophisticated and experienced than her. The situation gets even more complicated when she meets Prince Maxon face to face and is forced to re-examine her life, her desires and her plans for the future. Do emotions have a place in competition like choice? Where does the game end and reality begin?