Trama

After losing her father to cancer, a teenage girl reluctantly joins her new stepcousin at a summer camp for Latter-day Saint (Mormon) girls.

Lane Speer is a 16-year-old girl who spends her family vacations camping in the mountains. She takes the memories for granted until she loses her father to cancer. Only a year later, Lane is still reeling from her father's death as her mother marries a guy that Lane hardly knows - a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. To top it off, while they are on their honeymoon, they arrange to have her stay with her LDS step-aunt who takes her away to a Bible-themed girls' camp with a bunch of young LDS girls. Confronted with memories of camping with her family, she tries to find peace with her new surroundings and deal with her father's death.

Since the credits say the movie was filmed in Utah and many of the characters are Mormons, it can be assumed the movie was also set in Utah.

Lane and her parents Robert and Audrey are going camping. Lane is an adorable but slightly rebellious teen who, despite the gorgeous scenery her father keeps pointing out, remains focused on her phone. She would rather be at something called Battle of the Bands. When the family arrives at their destination, Lane must give up the phone and enjoy the experience. Which she does. Close-ups of the back of the SUV show evidence of Robert's Christian faith, including the fish symbol, and as narrator, Lane explains that her father has brought others to this place to help them, because of his faith. Robert shows Lane how to do what she needs to do because he won't always be around.

How right Robert was. Seven months after the tumor was discovered, the family is at his funeral. It is not clear exactly when the movie's first scenes took place in relation to this event.

However, Audrey meets Tristan in a grief support group, and they are about to get married one year later. Lane is acting childish and refuses to ever accept Tristan. To make matters worse, the honeymoon will be a three-week cruise and although Lane claims that at 16 she can be on her own, her mother is not convinced. Lane will spend that time with Tristan's sister Holly. One more thing: although Lane's family is not Mormon, Tristan's family is. Audrey tries hard to show Lane how much she loves her and this helps.

Lane grudgingly attends a dinner before the wedding but has to go off and be by herself. That is where she meets Phoebe, Holly's neurotic and very intelligent daughter, who has numerous phobias (she is hiding because the building is not designed for earthquakes) and must rely on a tiny service dog Roxy to keep her calm. Lane is nicer to Phoebe than most people and it looks like both of them will be good for each other.

The wedding happens and Lane is doing okay, until the couple leaves and then Lane can't stop crying. She has to be carried to the home where she will spend the next several weeks and put in bed. Then she oversleeps and gets up around noon.

If there weren't enough problems in Lane's life, the perky Sister Carrie Carrington shows up trying to persuade Phoebe to go to a girls' camp which will last several days. Phoebe does not want to go and Holly does not want to make her go. With Lane staying with the family, naturally she is invited too even though she is not a Mormon like the rest. Eventually, both girls agree to go, mainly because each one feels more comfortable having the other there.

And what happens next is pretty much what one would expect: a van pulling a trailer that resembles Noah's Ark, and a group of teenage girls singing corny Christian songs. Not Contemporary Christian, but the type of corny songs that have been around for many years.

Lane as the narrator introduces the girls. Bree, Carrie's daughter, is in charge and won't let anyone forget it. Paige is her best friend. Charlotte is another of the "elite" but doesn't have nearly the confidence of the other two. Hannah has an attitude and ignores everyone else while listening to bands no one ever heard of while wearing headphones. The other girls like One Direction but she surely does not. Mindy also has an attitude but is more social and does impressions. Finally, Lane claims sisters Maleka, Mykelle and Makenna were named by their parents when they were playing Scrabble and wanted to use the same set of letters multiple times.

The van makes one last stop before Spring Lake. A motorcycle arrives with the Bishop and an older woman (Nedra is the only name left in the credits) who is not your typical Christian, and yet she does help teach the girls morals. Lane wants to ride with her so the Bishop can go the rest of the way with the group. It is later that Lane confesses she was thinking about asking to go home at that point.

When the group arrives, the girls have to put together three tents. Each group may ask for help from the other groups but they cannot be helped by the adults--Carrie, Holly, the Bishop, and Nedra, who get to sleep in the "ark". Surprisingly, Lane is quite good at knowing what to do after being taught by her father, and Phoebe knows a lot as well. As first year members of the group, they are the "Beehives", which gives the movie its name. Phoebe has a secret: she just couldn't leave Roxy behind. The dog is in her luggage and she pleads with Lane to keep her secret.

The elite girls think they know what they are doing. After all, they are in charge. One wonders about protection from the rain, but "it, like never rains." So naturally, that first night, it will rain, and the elite girls run to the ark and pound on the door, but the adults are all wearing headphones and no one can hear them. Then the second tent collapses. All of the girls end up in the one tent that survived, the one built by the Beehives.

The next morning there is lots of work to do and clothes that need to dry out. And the girls will go on a hike to the glacier where Carrie has promised a special surprise.

Two rangers show up and Charlotte and Holly (but she's married!) both have an obvious crush on these good-looking men.

At last it is time for the hike. But the group gets lost. Eventually, Lane looks at the map and figures out what to do, and the group arrives at the glacier. It's actually more like a place where it has just snowed, and there is enough snow for snowballs and--this is Carrie's surprise, as she brought fruit flavors--Sno-cones. Bree is annoyed that Lane is getting so much attention, so naturally she gets hit by a snowball.

The group is very tired when the return to camp and, except for Lane, they go to sleep. Lane helps Nedra with cooking their meal, using a very delicious recipe she was taught. Bree gets angry when Lane has done what was supposed to be her job, but the girls love the food.

There is more work to do the next day. Fences need repairing, and it is a big letdown when two different rangers show up who are not good-looking. This time when the girls return to camp, there is evidence a bear attacked. Phoebe has to admit she brought Roxy, and Roxy is missing. She goes off looking for the dog, even though the group has been warned the bear might be around. Lane follows Phoebe, and Bree follows both of them. Bree tries praying and Lane is frustrated that people think prayer has any value. But then the bear shows up and they have to do what they were taught. It is a tense scene but when they get away safe, Lane and Bree are thinking differently. Phoebe finds Roxy's service dog vest and is devastated.

So the group has some choices to make. They can stay despite what the bear did, or they can go home. It takes some persuasion but the others agree, and finally Phoebe is convinced to stay.

There are more fun activities. The girls must find the Ark using clues that involve Bible verses. Working together, they are able to figure things out. Phoebe is the most helpful of all and the others have to admit she has done a lot for them. The girls reach their goal.

And the Bishop shows up with Roxy, who was quite terrified when he found her.

Sitting around the campfire at the end, the girls all give their testimonies. The audience sees the last one from Phoebe, who despite all her quirky behavior really does have a strong faith. Then Lane asks to speak, and admits while she is not one of them and doesn't believe the way Mormons do, the experience has really been good for her. Bree asks to speak again and says they brought Lane and Phoebe along to help them and Lane and Phoebe have helped the group as much as the group has helped them.