Pretty Little Liars, a television series based on the novels by Sara Shepard, follows four girls: Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields and Hanna Marin. The four were befriended by a fellow classmate, Alison DiLaurentis, who was the "Queen Bee" of Rosewood Day. During the girls' sleepover during the summer after 8th grade, Alison disappears. Their friendship falls apart until, a year after Ali's disappearance, they all begin receiving text messages from a person named "A", who appears to know all of their dirty little secrets.
Season 1, Episode 1 - "Pilot"
When the episode begins, you see Aria, Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Alison in a barn, ready for their sleepover. After doing what normal preteen girls do, the girls fall asleep. When they wake up, Spencer and Alison are gone. Aria runs to search for them and runs into Spencer outside of the door. She claims that Alison is missing and she heard a scream.
It's one year later and Aria Montgomery has just moved back to Rosewood from Reykjavik, Iceland. Before moving there, Aria felt out of place in Rosewood. She was an outcast there, but she found herself in Iceland. Moving back home brought the uneasiness of never coming to grips with Alison's disappearance and her father, Byron, asks her if she's okay with Alison's disappearance. She assures him that she's "still keeping his secret". She goes to a Bar & Grill and meets a man named Ezra. He's about to start teaching and Aria tells him that she's a college student and they fall for each other and begin kissing.
Hanna is shown with Mona, a former nerd, at a department store. Hanna sees Spencer and, sunglasses in hand, runs to meet her, telling the security guard that she'd be right back. She leaves with the sunglasses and Mona, a scarf.
Then, Aria is in the car with her father, Byron. He reassures her that he's still in love with her mother, Ella. Aria has a flashback to a time when she and Alison were trying to escape "Mona the Nerd" and see Aria's father's car. Inside, he was kissing a woman who wasn't Aria's mother.
Back in the present, Aria meets up with Emily and they walk into English class. It's there that Aria sees Mr. Ezra Fitz. They recognize each other and the embarrassment is obvious. Aria receives a text message.
"Aria, maybe he fools around with students all the time. A lot of teachers do. Just ask your dad. -A"
Emily and her mother are talking about Alison's disappearance and the return of Aria. Emily takes a "welcoming basket" to the new neighbors that are currently moving into Alison's old house. Emily meets Maya St. Germain and smokes weed in her bedroom.
Spencer is renovating the barn in her backyard into a place for her to stay. She's genuinely excited to stay there for her junior year until her older sister, Melissa, and Melissa's fiancee Wren, tell Spencer that they'll be staying in the barn because they need their privacy.
Aria confronts Mr. Fitz about their relationship and decides that she wants to pursue it, but he doesn't.
Emily is walking home with Maya and shares the story of Alison's disappearance with her. They kiss and later that day, Emily finds a note in her gym locker that says:
"Hey Em! I've been replaced- You've found another friend to kiss! -A"
Spencer is in her bikini ready to get in the jacuzzi when she sees that Wren is already in there. He proceeds to get out and then gives her a massage in the kitchen. Spencer receives a text:
"Poor Spencer. Always wants Melissa's boyfriends. But remember, if you kiss I tell. -A"
Spencer flashes back to a time when the girls are standing in the kitchen and Melissa brings home a different guy named Ian. Alison threatens to tell Melissa that Ian and Spencer kissed. Spencer tells her that if she does, she will tell everyone about "the Jenna thing".
Emily and Aria are sitting on a porch swing talking about the mysterious notes they've received from 'A'. They think that Alison is sending the notes. Neither of the girls want to discuss what was written in their texts and letters.
Hanna and her mother are sitting down to dinner when Hanna receives a text message from Spencer that says, "WE NEED TO TALK!!!" The doorbell rings and the police are there with video footage of Hanna stealing the sunglasses. Hanna's mother is in the office talking to the officer and Hanna is about to take a handful of the candies sitting on the table next to her when she receives a text message.
"Be careful, Hanna. I hear prison food makes you fat. -A".
Hanna's mom is worried about what the community of Rosewood will think of them if they find out that Hanna stole. She tells her to deny that she did anything wrong because she will take care of it for her.
Emily goes to Maya's house and Maya tells her that Alison's body was found. Spencer, Hanna, and Aria stand together as Hanna reaffirms that they made a promise to keep "the Jenna thing" a secret.
Later that night, Hanna is at home watching the news when her mother walks in the door kissing the police officer from earlier that day. They go upstairs.
The next day is Alison's funeral, and Aria and Mr. Fitz kiss. Later, the four girls are sitting together in the front row at Alison's funeral, and they realize that all four of them have received messages from 'A'.
They turn around and see Jenna, who is blind, being led into a seat. Mrs. DeLaurentis explains that she didn't know that Jenna and Alison were friends, and Spencer tells her that they weren't.
Emily, Spencer, Aria, and Hanna are approached by a detective when they leave the funeral, who tells them that because the case has changed from a missing person to a murder, he needs to go over each of their statements from a year ago to find out what happened to Alison. It is obvious that they are hiding something. The episode ends with all four girls receiving the same text, which they read out loud,
"I'm still here, bitches. And I know everything. -A"
