It is based on the Japanese shōjo manga series, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (花ざかりの君たちへ, For You in Full Blossom), written by Hisaya Nakajo.

The story of To the Beautiful You, distributed over 16 episodes, centers on Goo Jae-hee (Sulli), a Korean girl who lives in the United States.

One day, she sees a track and field competition on TV, and becomes attracted to one of the high jump competitors, Kang Tae-joon (Choi Min-ho).

She eventually transfers to Korea to attend the same school that Tae-joon, who has recently suffered an accident that could potentially end his career.

In Genie High School, Jae-hee encounters Tae-joon, who is repulsed by her behavior, and befriends soccer athlete Cha Eun-gyeol (Lee Hyun-woo) after a brief brawl with an aggressive muscle boy in the bathroom.

Jae-hee begins to adapt with the school and her schoolmates, gradually gaining Tae-joon's favor and of the entire Dormitory 2 when she won in a marathon match.

When Jae-hee's older half-brother, Daniel Dawson (Julien Kang), comes to Korea, he finds out what his little sister is doing.

Teacher Jang, then, convinces Daniel Dawson to trust Jae-hee and to let her stay in Genie High School.

The competition over who takes Jae-hee intensifies as her childhood friend and suitor John Kim arrives from America for a photo project in Korea.

After the trip, Tae-joon reveals to Teacher Jang his plan to confess his love for Jae-hee and to admit to her that he knew all along that she is a girl.

Meanwhile, Tae-joon's training partner and fellow high jumper Min Hyeon-jae (Kang Ha-neul) gets stressed over the competition between them and attempts to sabotage him.

Instead, his efforts nearly killed Jae-hee and injured Eun-gyeol, rendering the latter incapable of playing an incoming soccer match.

Later, gossips of a girl hiding in Genie High School began to spread and the captains of Dormitory 1 and 3 starts to search the locker rooms to confirm the rumor.

Eun-gyeol hears of their plan and hides Jae-hee before the dormitory captains were able to see her changing clothes in the locker room.

On 10 March 2011, SM Entertainment announced that they had acquired the rights to the manga, "Hana Kimi" and would be filming its Korean adaptation.

[10] After previous discussions for the secondary male lead role, Lee Hyun-woo was finally confirmed as Cha Eun-gyul.