Heather lives in a small town with her family, and along with the usual travails that young people have to face growing up, she's afflicted with something much worse-lycanthropy. She's forced by her parents to keep it a secret for everyone's protection, but when Heather falls for a girl named Jonny she wants her own life. Her condition though may put everyone in danger.
Tropes:
- The '80s: The film is set in the 1980s, which explains the lack of cell phones and pervasive homophobia.
- Alcoholic Parent: Heather's mom Patti gets drunk almost every night. While drunk, she makes nasty and embarrassing public scenes sometimes that hurt Heather deeply.
- Always Identical Twins: Heather's younger brothers are identical twins. The pair are played by real identical twin brothers Charles F. Halpenny as Cooper and Harrison W Halpenny as Hardy.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Heather is told off for hanging out in the boys' locker room (to see her brothers after they win a game, while hoping to also join the men's hockey team) by the coach, saying no girls are allowed there. This just makes Heather jokingly ask "What girl?" Heather's played by Bobbi Salvör Menuez, and this could indicate Heather is nonbinary like them. It's not explicitly said though, nor comes up again (Heather doesn't appear to object when being called a girl, she etc though it could be fear of a reaction or simply not knowing any options exist besides this as it's set in the 1980s).
- Ambiguous Situation: Jonny cuts contact with Heather after they have sex, and while Rick's pressure is a key factor, it's left up in the air as to whether or not Heather also showed traits of her lycanthropy and freaked Jonny out or if Jonny is just conflicted about the relationship, if not both.
- Asshole Victim: Heather mauls Richard after she turns into a wolf and kills him. Prior to this he had beaten her brutally and is confirmed as having hit his girlfriend Jonny as well.
- Bisexual Love Triangle: Jonny is dating a man, but later becomes attracted to Heather, who's a lesbian. She finally has sex with Heather, but after seems torn about it, pushing Heather away. Heather kills Richard, after which she has to skip town as Jonny is left behind.
- Blood from the Mouth: Heather bleeds heavily from her mouth and spits up blood when Richard hits her repeatedly in the stomach when he beats her.
- Boyish Short Hair: Heather cuts off most of her hair, leaving it at buzz cut level, after her dad's death. She's a butch lesbian and it makes her look more masculine than earlier.
- Butch Lesbian: Downplayed by Heather, a young lesbian who likes to wear flannel, fairly masculine clothing overall with shorter hair and work out. She cuts her hair to a buzz cut level near the end of the film.
- Closet Gay: Heather is not out as a lesbian to her family, though her brothers find out on their own by seeing her romantically dancing with Jonny, the girl she likes.
- Daddy's Girl: Heather gets on much better with her dad, who's kind and supportive to her (though somewhat stifling). At the same time her mom's usually negligent at best as a result of her alcoholism and often very critical.
- Dance of Romance: Heather dances pretty suggestively with Jonny, fondling her waist and unzipping then zipping up her jacket. Afterward they finally kiss as it becomes clear that Jonny shares her feelings.
- Disappeared Dad: Heather's dad dies of a heart attack toward the end.
- Domestic Abuse: It turns out Jonny had been hit by her boyfriend Richard, which Heather discovers.
- Erotic Dream: Heather dreams of Jonny, the girl she wants, naked while feeding her eggs sensually.
- First Kiss: Jonny kisses Heather after they have their Dance of Romance, confirming she does want her too.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Heather is seen during her Dance of Romance with Jonny by her brothers, who can clearly see what this means and afterward act coldly to her. Only Cooper gets better.
- Friendless Background: Heather apparently has no friends when she meets Jonny, due most likely to her lycanthropy, which could endanger other people, and her family has kept her apart from others as a result.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Heather's mom disapprovingly says her outfit makes her look like a lesbian (while she uses a slur). She's unaware that Heather really is a lesbian. After her brothers see her in her Dance of Romance with Jonny they also act coldly to her. While Cooper reconciles with her, Hardy later angrily calls Heather an anti-lesbian slur and blames their dad's death on her due to him (supposedly) discovering this (he didn't).
- Important Haircut: Heather cuts her hair to a buzz cut level after her dad's death and getting again called an anti-lesbian slur, while the girl she loves is giving her the cold shoulder, seemingly as a way of making herself look even more butch.
- Ironic Name: Heather is more butch, with a conventional name. Jonny is feminine, though her name comes off as more butch (granted, it's a nickname for Jonine).
- Lesbian Jock: Jonny is a figure skater while Heather tries out to play hockey, while she works out often already. Both also fall for each other.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Jonny is likely a bisexual given she has a boyfriend and denies being gay. She's attracted to Heather though definitely and by how confidently the two have sex it can be implied this isn't her first time with a girl either. Jonny's feminine, with long braided hair, often wearing skirts and tights.
- Longing Look: Heather checks out Jonny with obvious interest when she first sees her, and then again when they meet later at the ice rink.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Heather is mildly butch in her style. Jonny has a far more feminine look in comparison with her. Both girls soon fall for each other.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Heather masturbates while she watches the Glorious Ladies of Wrestling on TV. This is before she romances Jonny, the girl she likes, with them eventually having sex.
- Missing Mom: Jonny bluntly says her mom killed herself in the past.
- Monster Delay: The transformed states of the werewolves are primarily hidden for most of the movie, and it's only when we see Henry's corpse that it turns out they look no different from regular wolves, and even then Heather's wolf form isn't shown until near the very end.
- Ms. Fanservice: Jonny is quite a beautiful young woman who is shown topless during both Heather's homoerotic dream about her and when they have sex, the latter being a pretty lengthy scene. Heather's shown naked as well during their sex scene, but her breasts are not explicitly displayed, and she's a bit less beautiful.
- Mugging the Monster: Richard beats up Heather brutally (partly as a result of her deliberately provoking him, though not entirely), unaware she's a werewolf. She transforms, mauling Richard to death.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Heather's probable motive to kill Richard, Jonny's boyfriend, is so she can have Jonny for herself (along with stopping his abuse of her). Jonny and she already had a romance starting, but Heather has to leave before she gets a chance to reconnect with Jonny.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Heather is a werewolf, transforming each full moon like usual. She chains herself up so she can't hurt anyone, having previously clawed her mom. She's only able to be outside on a full moon for a fixed, limited amount of time without turning into a wolf, and has an alarm set on her watch to alert her. It turns out to be hereditary, as her dad and her brothers are werewolves too. When her dad dies, he reverts to wolf shape, with his family cremating his body in an impromptu fashion so it's not discovered.
- Paranormal Romance: Heather, who's a young werewolf, meets and falls for ordinary woman Jonny.
- Queer Establishing Moment: Heather is shown as a lesbian from the beginning with her fairly masculine personal style, having posters of female bodybuilders and masturbating while watching Glorious Ladies of Wrestling. It's soon further confirmed by how much interest she shows when looking at Jonny, and having a homoerotic dream of her. Jonny turns out to share her feelings (despite dating a man at first) after their Dance of Romance, with the two having sex.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Heather gives in to her wolf side, murdering Richard. While he had it coming, her mother orders her to leave town for her protection, which Heather does, going toward an uncertain future leaving both her family and Jonny behind. That being said, Heather's now free from her bindings and doesn't have to deal with a deteriorating family, Rick's death means that Jonny is free from the abuse, and the ending monologue suggests that things could get better from there on out.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Heather, her mom and brothers all look quite similar, especially having the same red hair.
- Their First Time: Heather goes back to Jonny's place with her after the Dance of Romance they have, with the two having sex at length. After this however Jonny tells her to go then stops seeing or talking with her, so Heather is left bewildered and hurt.
- This Was His True Form: Inverted, since when Henry dies, his corpse is in his wolf form.
- Tomboyish Name: Jonny's name is really Jonine, she tells Heather (not Jeanine). It's a name her mom made up. Her grandma can't say it due to a stroke and so just calls her Jonny however. Jonny herself is pretty feminine.
- Twofer Token Minority: Jonny, a young black woman who reciprocates Heather's attraction to her, is the only person of color in the film. It's set in a small town where this wouldn't be unusual.
- Uptight Loves Wild: A fantastic lesbian version. Heather, a closeted lesbian who's reserved and restricted as a result of not only her social repression (she lives in a small town while it's during the 1980s sometime, a very homophobic period) but secretly being a werewolf, falls for Jonny, who is a bold and carefree girl who spends most of her free time partying. Jonny inspires Heather to act on her attraction and embrace her orientation as they begin a relationship.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The last we see of Heather's younger twin brothers, they were fighting after Hardy blamed Heather's sexuality for Henry's death. We don't see what became of this conflict.
