It all started with Laguna Beach. Like other teens in California, the lives of Lauren Conrad, Kristin Cavallari and their classmates were filled with sandy beaches, beautiful friends and love triangles. But unlike other teens, they had cameras following them around in this groundbreaking TV show that looks nothing like the lives most us know. In Laguna, not only is truth sometimes stranger than fiction, it’s also a lot more exciting. After high school, Lauren leaves home to explore a life of fun and fashion in Hollywood.

In The Hills, Lauren, Heidi Montag, Audrina Patridge and Whitney Port learn dreams can come true, especially if you’re young, rich and beautiful and yearning for a glamorous life. But life in Los Angeles only gets more complicated as friendships, relationships and loyalties are tested like never before. It’s a whole new world for Whitney as she picks up and moves from the comforts of her hometown in Los Angeles to the bright lights of Manhattan.

In The City, she learns quickly that climbing your way to the top means doing it alongside both friends and enemies.