The shy and awkward Elphaba arrives at college and meets her new roommate, the popular and bubbly Galinda. The two strike up an unlikely friendship, and Galinda teaches Elphaba how to fit in better with their peers. At the same time, Elphaba`s talent is recognised by the university`s principal and she is inducted into sorcery classes, with the goal of eventually working under the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. However, when Elphaba actually gets the chance to meet the wizard, her lifelong idol, she learns that he is evil and a fraud. Her principal, angered by her supposed ungratefulness, tells the whole school that she is a "wicked witch".