The Abby Lee Dance Studio is on edge after learning a big Broadway casting director will attend their annual Dance Showcase, an exhibition in which she shows off her accomplished dancers. Abby's desire to push the girls to the max could have catastrophic effects if they don't show their best.

Abby's continuous typecasting of little Nia in ethnic stereotype roles sends her mother Holly over the edge. For the first time, Holly takes off the gloves and the fighter in her comes out.