Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a fast up and coming ballerina who makes her dance her entire life. Pushed into the ballet by her mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey) who also has a tight grip over her career choices, Nina begins to feel the pressure of landing a role of importance. Those wishes are answered when a director for the New York ballet company, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) casts Nina in a role in Swan Lake over a seasoned ballerina, Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder); Nina draws attention to herself and suddenly finds herself in competition with Lily (Mila Kunis) a new ballet sensation. Desperate to either make a name for them or keep their current prima status all girls become close in a rather twisted friendship.