Ben Ross screens a documentary about the Holocaust and Nazi concentration camps for his history class.

Students ask Ben how ordinary Germans allowed the Nazis to rise, and Ben admits he cannot fully answer.

Ben stays up late studying books about the Third Reich, formulating an experiment to help students understand.

Ben writes 'STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE' on the board and introduces strict new rules for his class.

Ben introduces The Wave symbol, a salute resembling the Nazi salute, and officially names the movement.

Ben passes out membership cards, designating certain students as monitors who must report rule-breakers.

Robert Billings stands and declares that being in The Wave feels like being born again.

Students from other classes and grade levels begin attending Ben's history class to join The Wave.

Principal Owens calls Ben to his office to question The Wave but agrees to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Laurie finds an anonymous letter at the Grapevine office from a student threatened for resisting Wave recruitment.

Laurie publishes a special Grapevine edition accusing The Wave of being a fascist organization that suppresses free speech.

David grabs Laurie and throws her to the ground during an argument about The Wave, horrifying himself.

David and Laurie go to Ben's house, and Ben asks them to trust him with his plan to end The Wave.

Ben announces a Wave-only auditorium rally, falsely promising that the national Wave leader will appear on television.

Ben reveals Hitler's image on the auditorium screen and declares that the students would all have made good Nazis.

Ben Ross creates The Wave experiment after struggling to explain how ordinary Germans allowed the Nazi regime to rise unchallenged. The experiment rapidly grows from a classroom exercise into a school-wide movement complete with salutes, mottos, and membership cards. As The Wave expands beyond Ben's control, Laurie Sanders publishes a bold Grapevine exposé accusing the movement of suppressing free speech and individuality. David Collins's violent confrontation with Laurie forces him to see how dangerously far The Wave has gone, prompting him and Laurie to seek Ben's help. Ben devises a dramatic plan to end the experiment by luring all Wave members to a final auditorium rally under false pretenses. He reveals that Adolf Hitler would have been their leader, teaching the students a lasting lesson about fascism, individual rights, and the consequences of blind obedience.

The rise and fall of The Wave experiment at Gordon High.

Laurie tells Ben after class that she cannot believe anyone could ever be so cruel to other people.

David tells Laurie that the Holocaust is just a piece of history and that he wants to move on from it.

Christy finds Ben surrounded by history books at 11 PM and gently warns him not to stay up too late.

Ben has students practice improved posture and drills efficient seating exercises, timing them to improve their performance.

Ben tells Christy the class experiment was a success, and she jokes that he has created a monster.

Ben writes 'COMMUNITY' beneath the previous motto and introduces a second Wave slogan to the class.

David decides to introduce The Wave to the struggling football team before a crucial upcoming game.

Laurie's mother warns that the class experiment sounds too militaristic and compares it to fascist brainwashing.

Wave members begin sitting together at lunch, including Robert Billings, who is no longer excluded by his peers.

Mrs. Saunders tells Laurie that Robert's mother says he is a new person but warns the movement seems cultish.

Laurie discovers that the school's traditional pep rally has been replaced with a Wave-members-only rally.

Brian Ammon and Deutsch fight in the school quad after Deutsch refuses to shout The Wave mottos.

Mr. Saunders tells Laurie that a Jewish boy was beaten by attackers who called him a dirty Jew.

Amy accuses Laurie of opposing The Wave only because she can no longer feel special above everyone else.

Amy and Laurie reconcile with an embrace in the auditorium after Ben's speech exposes The Wave as fascism.

In the aftermath of a disturbing Holocaust documentary, students and parents react in very different ways to The Wave experiment taking root at Gordon High. Ben Ross's wife and Laurie's mother both sound early alarms about the movement's militaristic and cultish qualities, but their warnings are brushed aside. The Wave spreads to the football team and transforms social outcasts like Robert Billings, creating enthusiasm alongside dangerous division among students. Violence erupts in the quad and off campus, culminating in a Jewish student being attacked, while Laurie's courageous Grapevine exposé strains her closest friendships. Amy Smith's furious response to Laurie's published challenge reveals how deeply the movement has fractured student relationships and loyalty. After Ben's auditorium revelation dismantles The Wave, Amy and Laurie's emotional reconciliation marks the resolution of the story's central friendship.

The people and pressures behind The Wave's rise and collapse.

Robert Billings falls asleep during the Holocaust documentary, entirely indifferent to school and to the suffering depicted.

David spots Robert alone in a bathroom, practicing The Wave stance and snapping to attention in the mirror repeatedly.

Ben notices that Wave-inspired students complete assignments quickly but recite facts without analyzing or questioning the material.

Robert volunteers to serve as Ben's personal bodyguard, and Ben accepts, recognizing he has become a leader needing protection.

Ben discovers that students are following instructions allegedly from him that he never actually issued.

A Wave member named Brad blocks Laurie from entering the football game stands without performing The Wave salute.

Gordon High loses the football game badly, proving that The Wave's promise of strength had no effect on the field.

Robert coldly tells David that Laurie Sanders is a threat to The Wave who must be stopped.

Ben overhears Coach Schiller blaming him for giving the football team false confidence before their losing game.

Christy tells Ben that The Wave is disrupting the whole school and that his original goals have clearly changed.

Laurie finds the word 'enemy' painted on her locker after the special Grapevine edition is published.

Principal Owens threatens to demand Ben's resignation if The Wave is not ended by the close of the day.

Laurie and David beg Principal Owens to cancel the auditorium rally, but he sends them back to class.

A student shouts that there is no Wave leader in the auditorium and is forcibly removed by guards.

Ben finds Robert sobbing alone in the auditorium and invites him to lunch, hinting at a new commitment to his future.

Robert Billings's transformation from indifferent outcast to zealous Wave enforcer is one of the experiment's most revealing and troubling developments. Ben gradually loses control as students follow instructions he never issued, accept him as a leader requiring a bodyguard, and abandon critical thinking in favor of reciting Wave doctrine. The football team's crushing loss exposes The Wave's false promises of strength, while escalating threats against Laurie and a Jewish student show the experiment's darkening consequences. Ben's confrontation with Principal Owens and Christy's ultimatum finally force him to acknowledge that the experiment has reached a dangerous and irreversible point. In a dramatic rally staged on false pretenses, Ben strips away the illusion of a national Wave leader and replaces it with the image of Adolf Hitler. The sobbing figure of Robert left alone in the auditorium becomes the experiment's most poignant symbol of what can be lost when dangerous ideas are allowed to build momentum.