The spirit of competition around a middle school spelling bee turns uglier and uglier as the day of the event draws closer. Not for the kids, of course, but for their overly-invested parents.

SYNOPSIS:

The Bee is a story of a group of high school friends: LISA--the executive assistant who’s stuck in the past and uses Tupac songs to express herself, SIDNEY-- the lawyer who is raising his son with his new husband and in a custody battle with his ex-wife, MELODY—the high-class housewife with a philandering husband and TAMRA—the body conscious mom with a very thin filter.

The four are so close that their middle-school -aged children have inevitably become the best of friends as well. Lisa’s son, JOSHUA, is a bit awkward and a lot shy. Sidney’s son, MILES, has lots of social capital but his grades could use a bit of work. Melody’s daughter, MAYA, may just be the antithesis to everything her mother stands for—much to her mom’s chagrin and Tamra’s daughter, EMORY, is the quiet and sweet spirit who holds the group together.

When Miles is in danger of losing his place on the track team due to a failing grade, his teacher offers him extra credit in the form of participating in the school spelling bee. This is great for his dad, Sidney, because he’s in real danger of losing custody if he can’t prove that he’s a fit parent who can get his kid through 7th grade.

Miles knows that Maya will be participating and coaxes his friend, Joshua to join him as moral support and as a way to help him get closer to Maya—it also helps that Joshua is super smart and can help him study the spelling words. This is also great for Lisa because if she can get her son in first place, at least she’ll have one new win in life—even if it isn’t technically hers.

Emory joins to support Maya, who’d rather be playing sports that standing there as a younger Stepford version of her mom. They serve as each other’s moral support while their parents juggle relationship issues and try to live through them.

Friendships, family and relationships are broken when the parents hijack the spelling bee and cause havoc at the middle school in their quests to be the best. It takes quite a bit of atonement and self-reflection—and a call to the principal’s office—to make the parents understand the error of their ways. Both the children and parents come to realize the value of friendship, family and following your dreams.