The movie opens with Spidey taking out Shocker after he robs a bank, publically humiliating him in the process. Realising he’s going to be late for his biology class, Peter swings off, passing the Avengers tower as the title - Spider-Man: Homecoming - plasters across the screen. The film's opening credits then play over Spidey heading to Midtown.
Peter arrives late, sitting next to Harry in Biology. His teacher berates Peter’s falling grades, before reminding the class of an internship opportunity with Dr. Curt Connors, with a student being selected during a field trip to Oscorp later in the week. Manuel, the smartest in the class, mocks Peter's falling grades, bragging that he will get the internship. After class, Peter, Gwen and Harry briefly converse, with Gwen agreeing to help tutor Peter as well, before Flash and his popular crowd arrive, and briefly make fun of Peter and Harry. Another popular student, Mary Jane Watson - or simply "MJ"; who Peter has a pretty major crush on - makes him stop.
Meanwhile, in the Oscorp Tower, Norman Osborn meets with investors about 'the HAMMER project', which involves the development of a new, high-tech military grade exo-suit, based on prototype Falcon technology. One of Norman's potential partners - Tony Stark - arrives late, and after the meeting, expresses concern over the idea, since the designs belong to Adrian Toomes, who was absent from the meeting. After Stark leaves, Toomes enters Osborn’s office, saying he didn’t approve the use of his designs; Osborn offers him a position as advisor, but Toomes refuses, citing a desire to work on new projects, before angrily leaving to pick up his daughter from school. Osborn then asks his business partner Mendel Stromm to arrange for Toomes' workspace to be cleared.
At the end of the school day, Peter and Harry walk out of school, when a smarmy Manuel briefly brags about Liz Toomes, a popular student, agreeing to go to the Homecoming dance with him. Meanwhile, Liz – Adrian’s daughter - being mocked by other students for agreeing to go to the dance with Manuel, but she assures them she only said yes in return for tutoring. She briefly speaks with MJ, who says Manuel isn't so bad, before Liz spots her dad's car, and heads towards it. On the bus, Peter and Harry are mocked by Flash over Manuel getting a date before Peter. At his stop, Peter gets off, and MJ does too, briefly speaking with him and asking why he doesn’t stand up for himself, before getting a phone call.
Peter arrives home and speaks with Aunt May about the Homecoming dance; Peter says he has nobody to go with, so May suggests Peter take her friend Anna's daughter. Peter shrugs her off, and goes upstairs to study, turning on a police radio in his room to listen out. Harry arrives at the Oscorp Tower, where Norman's penthouse is. He's met by his mother, Emily Osborn who enthusiastically speaks with Harry, before Norman enters; coldly mentioning that Harry doesn't study hard enough, berating his grades. That evening, Adrian Toomes speaks with his wife in their kitchen. It's clear that their relationship is on the rocks, and after a heated argument, Toomes storms out, only to be met by Manuel at the door, who's arrived to tutor Liz. We have an amusing scene here between the two, where Toomes clearly is unconvinced Manuel has arrived as a tutor, especially when he accidentally mentions taking Liz to the Homecoming dance.
In the early hours of the next morning, Adrian arrives at work, only to find his workspace has been cleared, with his designs missing. Toomes notices Stromm, and confronts him, with Stromm calmly trying to explain that Toomes is fired - but Toomes ain't having none of it. Pushing past Stromm, Toomes angrily confronts Norman, who calmly explains that Toomes is no longer relevant - his only noteworthy piece of technology is used as "the plaything of a second-rate Avenger" - and reminds Adrian he denied the chance to improve on his past work. Feathers ruffled, Toomes storms out, swearing revenge on Osborn. Mendell asks if they should escort Toomes out; Norman says to let him leave himself. On his way out, Toomes heads into Osborn’s lab, and takes his equipment.
At Midtown, Peter, Gwen and Harry are sitting together at Lunch, with Gwen helping the two with some Biology work. The topic of the Homecoming dance is awkwardly brought up by Peter, before Harry is called over by the Principal, after which Gwen admits to Peter that Harry asked her to the dance - as friends, she's quick to emphasise. ***hole Manuel then swoops in, sitting at the table with Gwen and Peter, and mocking Peter about getting turned down - even though that didn't really happen. Flash overhears this, and makes a scene out of things, mocking Peter in front of the hall - its clear here that Peter wants to react, but chooses not to. Flash eventually moves on. We also get a quick scene here where Harry is speaking with the Principal about his poor grades; his mom Emily shows up to the meeting - but not Norman - and acts supportive.
That night, Toomes looks at blueprints of the Oscorp Tower in his garage, with the prototype suit in the background. We see quick shots of him adding parts to the suit, and testing some blade-like weapons and laser-firing gauntlets, before we get a quick look at Toomes in the full Vulture suit from behind. Peter returns home, and Aunt May asks if Peter has a date yet; he says no. May then tells Peter that she arranged for Anna's daughter to go with him, to Peter's dismay.
The following day the field trip to Oscorp takes place, with Connors showing the class around. Toomes parks his van a few blocks away, already suited up in his Vulture suit. He steps outside, and soars up in the air, flying towards the Oscorp tower, before firing a laser at the glass and smashing through, beginning to fire at Oscorp's technology and equipment. As the class evacuate, Peter ducks into a bathroom, quickly changing into his Spider-Man suit, and engages Toomes in a fight, which takes them both in and outside of the tower, smashing through glass and floors of the building, with Vulture making his way up, and Spidey trying to bring him down. Mendell warns Osborn that Toomes has attacked the building; Norman goes to find his wife. Vulture manages to shake off Spidey, who is hurled out of a window, and confronts Osborn in his office. Before Toomes attacks him, Spidey launches though a window, giving Osborn time to flee, and the two once again fight. As Norman evacuates, his wife Emily is accidentally shot by the Vulture's lasers from the floor above, mortally wounding her. Vulture retreats, his suit damaged, whilst Spidey holds up a falling piece of debris from crushing Mendell. Downstairs, Norman holds a dying Emily in his arms, before breaking down into a fit of anger.
That night a concerned May speaks with Peter, who assures her he’s fine. Harry doesn’t attend school the following day, and ignores Peter’s calls. At Oscorp, Norman orders Mendel to find someone to take out Toomes, refusing to reschedule a meeting with an investor, despite his loss. Tony Stark enters Norman’s office to discuss Norman’s HAMMER proposal, offering his condolences to Emily, who Norman dismisses as a distraction, before requesting to withdraw from the project after the attack. After school, Peter tracks down Sam Wilson, who is in hiding in NYC. Wilson digs out a file on his Falcon suit, revealing that Adrian Toomes designed it, and it was supplied by Oscorp. Peter then heads to Oscorp, sneaking into its archives, only to find Toomes’ files erased, except for a general employment record: then realising that Toomes is Liz’ father. On his way out he bumps into Stark, explaining he believes Toomes’ work was stolen from him; an idea which Stark agrees with, saying he’ll look further into it. Already believing that Norman was up to something, Stark reveals he just placed a small monitoring device under Norman’s desk. Mendel informs Norman he has bailed Herman Schultz out of jail, and offered him a job in return for taking out Toomes.
That night, Spidey heads to Toomes’ home, where he is frantically packing bags. The two briefly speak, before Shocker blasts into the house, only to be distracted by Spidey, trying to take revenge instead, giving Toomes time to flee. Liz rushes in to see what the noise is, with Spidey swinging her to safety, after once again disabling Shocker’s gauntlets. On returning, both Shocker and Toomes are gone. After the incident, the news reports that Toomes was the suspect in the Oscorp attack, leading to Liz to be bullied at school. She bonds with Peter after sitting with him and Gwen at lunch, later leaving with MJ, who smiles at and briefly speaks with Peter. At Oscorp, Norman shouts at Herman for failing, when Herman mentions Liz arriving; Norman suddenly has an idea – which Stark overhears, thanks to his device.
The following day at school – the day of the Homecoming dance - Peter again speaks with Liz, only to be interrupted by Manuel, who is clearly jealous, but insensitive towards Liz. Adrian Toomes, who is living in his van in an alleyway, gets a call on his mobile that Liz isn’t safe. At Midtown, whilst Manuel is confronted by Liz for being an ***hat, Shocker bursts into the school, grabbing Liz. Peter flees, changing into his Spidey suit, and swinging out – only for Vulture to then smash through a wall also. A three-way fight ensues, but after Liz is injured by Shocker, Toomes goes into a rage-induced frenzy, violently attacking Schultz. Spidey tackles Vulture into a corridor, their fight eventually going to the gymnasium, where Spidey attempts to reason with Toomes. Back in the hall, Shocker gets up, when suddenly Iron Man flies in through the hole the Vulture left. Stark asks Liz where Spidey and Vulture went, and she points to the hallway, when Shocker suddenly fires at Stark, not wanting to lose him employment opportunity.
Liz hurries to the gymnasium, where she sees Vulture get the upper hand over Spidey, eventually slicing his mask. Liz enters and shouts at her dad, breaking him out of his frenzy, after which he explains that he didn’t do anything to be bad; he wanted to protect his job to continue to support her. Liz hurries over to an injured Spidey, seeing his face. In shock, she hugs Peter, who jokingly asks her to the dance; Liz says she can’t say no to Manuel, then saying she thought Peter already had a date. Toomes stands down, and Stark enters with Shocker swung over his shoulder. Peter puts on what’s left of his mask and swings away, taking Liz to safety outside. Manuel hurries into the Gym, only to be made fun of by Stark.
That evening, at Oscorp, Stark confronts Osborn, threatening to expose his actions. Norman threatens Stark back with secrets from Stark’s past and his spying on confidential conversations; Stark agrees to “forget about it”, and goes to leave, but then asks Norman a favour: make Peter be the one to get Connors’ internship. That night, Peter gets ready for the dance, fearing the worst for his arranged date. Aunt May calls that she’s arrived, and Peter heads to the door, opening it – and to his shock, MJ is standing there. Stunned, Peter says nothing, whilst MJ smiles, and says "well Petey, looks like you just hit the jackpot".
In a mid-credits scene, Norman arranges with Stromm for Toomes and Schultz to be transferred to the Oscorp-founded Ravencroft Institute so as to keep a closer eye on them, to avoid them interfering in his plans.