Tally is anticipating her 16th birthday-- the day she becomes pretty. Pretty= Perfect hair, stunning eyes, get to live in the party tower with all of the new pretties, including Tally's best friend, Peris. Tally can't wait for the life of never ending parties, but until then, she is stuck in Uglyville with Shay, an ambitious girl with the same birthday as Tally. Shay takes Tally on fun adventures, to hoverboarding at night, to sneaking into one of the parties at Prettytown, to eventually revealing her most secretive plan to Tally; running away from Prettytown. Shay is completely satisfied with her own face, body, flaws and all. She can't undergo surgery that changes everything about you.
The moment Shay leaves, Tally is faced with the phase of loneliness once again. She waits, by herself, for her 16th birthday, for the day she becomes pretty. On the day of her birthday though, Tally is told by "Special Circumstances" (the group of highest authority) that something has gone wrong with her surgery. Special Circumstances explains that the only way for Tally to become pretty is to find "The Ruins." So, Special Circumstances plants a tracker on her and sends her off with some water purifiers, some food packets, a high tech sleeping bag, and her hover board. Once Tally is blackmailed into traveling to "The Ruins," and she agrees to, there is no turning back. This is the main conflict in the story.
The cause of Tally running away is the fact that Shay had run away. Although, another main cause to motivate Tally into escaping is her desire to become pretty. Without such a hatred for her imperfections, maybe Tally would have fought against Special Circumstances, changing the entire conflict of the story. If Tally had seen past her flaws, she would have run away to "The Ruins" with Shay, freely, and there wouldn't be a need for Special Circumstances to consult Tally, therefore, wouldn't be betrayal of "The Ruins." Everyone would live happily ever after...
Once Tally leaves, many things are set into action based on her decisions. First, Tally arrives, and has her eyes set on David-- the one Shay is convinced is her true love. The moment David talks to Tally, tension arises between Tally and Shay. Then, Tally ends up wanting to stay in "The Ruins," with her friends, and she disposes of the tracker the Special Circumstances has given her. Little does she know, that by destroying the tracker actually sets off an alarm which sends planes of Special Circumstances over to "The Ruins," and they leave the community in ashes, the community that Tally so wanted to be a part of. Special Circumstances takes many of Tally's friends hostage and with the impression that Tally has betrayed them. Once again, if Tally hadn't been so obsessed with a flawless body, her friends from the new community wouldn't feel like they have been betrayed, Tally would still be in love with David, and "The Ruins" wouldn't be in, well, ruins when Special Circumstances was done with them.
All of these conflicts then set the stage for book two, "Pretties."
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