The movie begins in 2003 at Harvard University, where student Mark Zuckerberg is on a date with Erica Albright. During their conversation, Mark's erratic and condescending behavior leads to Erica breaking up with him, criticizing him for being a "douchebag." In his anger, Mark drunkenly posts degrading comments about Erica and then creates a website called FaceMash, which allows users to vote on the attractiveness of Harvard students based on photos he hacked from various house directories.