The story is set in a small university town in the American Midwest and focuses on the lives of four young students who become emotionally and romantically involved with each other.

[5] When nerdy Adam Sorenson, an English Literature major at Mercy, a fictitious Midwestern college, meets Evelyn Ann Thompson, an attractive graduate art student, at the local museum where he works, his life takes an unexpected turn.

Later, Evelyn cajoles Adam into undergoing plastic surgery to fix his large and naturally misshapen nose and succeeds in persuading him to cut himself off from Phillip and Jenny, whose relationship she ruins.

Accordingly, none of the feelings she has shown him throughout the film are genuine; at no stage in their "relationship" has she fallen in love with him; her videotapes of them having sex are simply part of the project's documentation.

She responds by saying that he should in fact be grateful to her, claiming that, objectively speaking, she has been a positive influence on his life, making him a more attractive and interesting person in the eyes of society.

The original play The Shape of Things premiered at the Temporary Almeida Theatre at Kings Cross, London in 2001, with Paul Rudd as Adam, Rachel Weisz as Evelyn, Gretchen Mol as Jenny, and Fred Weller as Phillip.

[11] Traditionally, the characters are named Adam and Evelyn (a reference to the story of the Garden of Eden), but if a production may wish a gender reversal, the two leads are Amy and Evan.