The Breakfast Club - Plot

Plot

Five students — Allison Reynolds (Sheedy), Andrew Clark (Estevez), John Bender (Nelson), Brian Johnson (Hall), and Claire Standish (Ringwald) — report for Saturday morning detention on March 24, 1984 at Shermer High School in the Chicago suburb of Shermer, Illinois. While not complete strangers, each of them comes from a different clique, and seem to have nothing in common. They gather in the high school library, where they are ordered not to speak or move from their seats or sleep by the assistant principal, Richard Vernon (Gleason). They are to remain for a period of eight hours, fifty-four minutes (from 7:06 A.M. to 4 P.M.). He assigns a 1000-word essay, (in which each student must write about who he or she thinks they are) and then leaves, returning occasionally to check on them. Bender, who has a particularly negative relationship with Mr. Vernon, disregards the rules and riles the other students, mocking Brian and Andrew, and harassing Claire. Allison remains oddly quiet except for the occasional random outburst.

The students pass the hours in a variety of ways. Gradually they open up to each other and reveal their inner secrets (for example, Allison is a compulsive liar, Bender comes from an abusive household, Brian has attempted suicide, and Claire is ashamed of her virginity). They also discover that they all have strained relationships with their parents and are afraid of making the same mistakes as the adults around them. However, despite these developing friendships the students are afraid that once the detention is over, they will return to their very different cliques and never speak to each other again.

At the request and consensus of the students, Brian is asked to write the essay Mr. Vernon assigned earlier (the subject of which was to be a synopsis by each student detailing "who you think you are"), which challenges Mr. Vernon and his preconceived judgments about all of them. Brian does so, but instead of writing about the assigned topic, he writes a letter to the teacher objecting to his request to describe to him who they are, and stating to him that he already has judged who they are (an athlete, basket-case, princess, brain, and criminal), and that he will not accept any different accounts from them about who they are. He signs the essay as "The Breakfast Club" and leaves it at the table for Mr. Vernon to read when they leave.

Before leaving, Claire and Bender kiss in the closet, then the students are walking down the hallway to leave the school. Outside, Allison and Andrew are seen kissing. Claire gives Bender her earring, which he puts on after she leaves.