Plot

With an aspiration to become a journalist, Andy, a smart but sensible young graduate, travels to New York. She starts working as an assistant to one of the city's biggest high fashion magazine editors, the cynical Miranda Priestly.

After graduating from university, Andy lands the dream job that "a million girls would kill for": assistant to Miranda - the chief editor of Runway, the top-selling fashion magazine in the industry. It is a job set to fast-track her career in journalism, if she can survive a year working for Miranda. From here, Andy, with no sense of fashion at all, begins a fish-out-of-water drama as she is thrown into a lifestyle full of the fast-paced, three-inch-minimum-heel-height, diet coke and coffee substance abuse. Andy works really hard to deal with Miranda's endless unimaginable demands. She even becomes trendy and classy. However, she gradually finds she is working 24/7 and soon her life with boyfriend Nate and best friend Lily is slipping away from her. Then, she realizes that she is losing what really matters. She does not want to lose herself no matter how many pairs of Monolos and Jimmy Choos she can score along the way.—Amy

The story tells the professional adventure of Andrea, whose greatest dream is to become a journalist. Andrea gets a job in the fashion industry through Runway magazine, the most famous of its type, to make ends meet. But Andrea won't develop her writing skills in the magazine, but her talents as the editor in chief's assistant, Miranda. The problem is that Miranda is a merciless, posh and cruel woman, making the experience a living hell for the girl. The environment in the place will be cold and extremely critical with the physical appearance. The girl will have to change her simple and plain style, for a more trendy and elegant one, in order to gain the acceptance of her ruthless boss and colleagues, specially Emily, her unpleasant workmate. Despite everything against Andrea in the office, she will consider the experience as a challenge, drastically changing her clothes and self-image, with the help of Nigel, the magazine's art director. Nevertheless, the job becomes extremely demanding, because of Miranda's tough work rhythm and nearly impossible tasks, leaving Andrea without a private life with her boyfriend, family and friends. Maybe the old Andrea has gone, now more preoccupied about her image and her future in the magazine.—Alejandro Frias

Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is an aspiring journalist fresh out of Northwestern University. Despite ridiculing the shallowness of the fashion industry, she lands the job "a million girls would kill for": junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the icy editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine. Despite having little knowledge of fashion, Andy puts up with Miranda's bizarre and humiliating treatment in hopes of getting a job as a reporter or writer somewhere else. At first, Andy fumbles with her job and fits in poorly with her catty coworkers, especially Miranda's British senior assistant Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt).

During a dinner with her father who came to visit her in New York City, Miranda calls her: the airports in Florida where she is are all closed due to a hurricane, but she needs to get home and orders Andy to get her home somehow. Andy tries every airline company there is, but none of them are flying out because of the weather. When Miranda does arrive back at the office, she tells Andy she has disappointed her more than any other of her previous assistants.

Andy has a talk with Runway's art director Nigel (Stanley Tucci), who gives a whole new perspective of Miranda, her work and fashion in general. Andy decides to change and-initially with Nigel's help-gradually learns her responsibilities and begins to dress more stylishly. Slowly but surely, Andy begins to sacrifice her personal life to her career. Miranda notices the change in Andy and gives her a new task: delivering "The Book" (a mock-up of the next edition's feature spreads) to her Upper East Side townhouse. Andy feels proud as Emily told her before that Miranda doesn't allow 'strangers' in her house.

Emily explains to her that she has to behave as if she is 'invisible' while she delivers the book at Miranda's house. However, Andy is tricked by Miranda's daughters into going upstairs, where she inadvertently walks in on Miranda and her husband arguing. Mortified, she drops the book and leaves. Miranda punishes Andy by giving her an impossible task: securing the unpublished manuscript for the next book in the Harry Potter series for her twin daughters to read on the train. Andy is just about to quit when Christian Thompson (Simon Baker), a famous writer and acquaintance of Andy's informs her he has obtained it for her. Andy delivers the copies to a stunned Miranda and keeps her job, much to her boyfriend's disappointment.

When Emily falls ill, Miranda commands Andy to accompany the two of them to a charity benefit, where the two masquerade as party-goers while actually reminding her of important information about the people approaching her for greeting. At the event, Andy saves Miranda from being embarrassed by Emily, who had forgotten one of the names; meets Jacqueline Follet, the editor-in-chief of French Runway and Miranda's rival; turns down an offer to meet a big publisher from Christian, but all the while misses her boyfriend's birthday party.

One evening, while returning The Book, Miranda informs her that she needs "the best team possible" for her Paris trip, which means stepping over Emily. Andy hesitates, as Emily has been boasting about going to Paris for months, but Miranda tells her that declining will send the message that she is not committed to her job or any future job at another publication. Faced with this threat, Andy accepts. The next day Miranda then tells Andy to be the bearer of bad news to Emily who, meanwhile, is hurrying back to the office after purchasing scarves from Hermes of Paris for Miranda. Just as Andy is about to tell her, Emily crosses at a "no cross" point and is hit by a taxi. Andy has a rough day confronting Emily about Paris and then at her friend Lily's art gallery, where she accepts a kiss on the cheek from Christian. Lily catches this and berates Andy, to then confront her boyfriend about the fact that she is going to Paris. He realizes that they no longer have anything in common, and they break up.

In Paris, Andy attends the shows and even meets designer Valentino Garavani, being introduced as "the new Emily". One night Andy comes into Miranda's suite only to find her in her bathrobe, undressed, and crying. While deciding on a seating chart, Miranda opens up saying that her husband is divorcing her, and again the press would write rude things about her such as 'career obsessed woman' who doesn't care for family but that her biggest worry is for her daughters, who have lost yet another father figure. Later, Andy learns from Nigel that he has landed a job as creative director at fashion designer James Holt's new company. Andy has dinner with Christian who figures out that she is single again. After a few glasses of wine she succumbs to Christian's charms and the two have sex.

In his hotel room the next morning, while dressing, Andy finds out that Runway's owner is planning to replace Miranda with Jacqueline Follet. Surprised, she asks Christian about it who confirms it saying that Miranda has become old and that Jacqueline will bring fresh change to the magazine. Andy rushes to the door while Christian stops her calling her 'baby' to which she replies that she is not his 'baby'. Andy storms out to find Miranda and warn her. When Andy finally tells her, Miranda seems unfazed. At a luncheon in honor of James Holt, Miranda announces that Jacqueline will be the new creative director of James Holt's company much to the surprise of Andy and Nigel.

En route to another event, Miranda explains to a still-stunned Andy that she knew about the plan to get rid of her all along, but she found an alternative for Jacqueline and presented "The List" (a list of all the designers, stylists, company owners, and models that were "raised and nurtured" by Miranda and who have promised their loyalty to her whenever and should she ever leave Runway) to the owner of Runway, who realized that without those people, Runway would suffer greatly, and was forced to reconsider.

Miranda also says that she was pleased by Andy's display of loyalty and that she sees a great deal of herself in her. Andy says she could never do to anyone what Miranda did to Nigel. Miranda replies that she already did, in stepping over Emily. Miranda tentatively comforts her, saying that those choices are necessary to live the life that she lives. At the event, Andy gets out of the car and simply walks away. When receiving a call from Miranda, she throws her phone into a fountain on the Place De La Concorde. Back in New York, she meets her boyfriend for breakfast. He has accepted an offer to work as a sous-chef in a popular Boston restaurant. Andy is disappointed, but her hope is rejuvenated when he says they could work something out.

Andy goes to an interview for a newspaper job. The interviewer reveals that Miranda told him she was by far her biggest disappointment, but that if he did not hire her, he would be an idiot. Afterwards Andy calls Emily while walking past the Runway office and offers to send Emily all of the outfits Andy got while in Paris, Emily feigns imposition saying the clothes will "absolutely drown her" but accepts. After the call Andy then sees Miranda getting into her car across the street. They exchange looks and Andy smiles at her, but Miranda acts as if the two are strangers, which Andy takes in good grace. Once in the car, Miranda smiles slightly before curtly telling her driver, "Go."