Plot
In the summer of 1963, 17-year-old New Yorker Frances "Baby" Houseman (Grey) is vacationing with her affluent family at Kellerman's, a resort in the Catskill Mountains. Baby is planning to attend Mount Holyoke College to study the economics of underdeveloped countries and then enter the Peace Corps. She was named after Frances Perkins, the first woman in the U.S. Cabinet. Her father, Dr. Jake Houseman (Orbach), is the personal physician of Max Kellerman (Jack Weston), the resort's owner.
Baby develops a crush on the resort's dance instructor Johnny Castle (Swayze), leader of the working-class entertainment staff. While carrying a watermelon for Billy (Johnny Castle's cousin), Baby is invited to one of the staff's secret after-hours parties and observes the "dirty dancing" (i.e., the Mambo) for the first time. She is intrigued by the sexy dancing, and receives a brief, impromptu lesson from Johnny. Later, Baby discovers that Johnny's dance partner, Penny Johnson (Rhodes), is pregnant by Robbie Gould (Max Cantor), a womanizing waiter who dates (and cheats on) Baby's sister Lisa. Baby learns that Robbie plans to do nothing about the pregnancy (as he says, "some people count, some people don't"), so Baby secures the money from her father to pay for Penny's illegal abortion. Jake agrees to give the money to Baby despite her secrecy regarding what it will be used for, because of the trust Jake has always held in her. In her efforts to help, Baby also becomes Penny's substitute dancer for an important performance at the Sheldrake, a nearby resort where Johnny and Penny perform annually. The upcoming show requires Johnny to train Baby to learn the required routine.
As Johnny teaches Baby to dance, tempers flare and a romance begins to develop. Their performance at the Sheldrake goes reasonably well, though Baby is too nervous to accomplish the dance's climactic lift.
When they return to Kellerman's, they learn that Penny's backstreet abortion was botched, leaving her in agonizing pain. Baby brings her father to help, but he misinterprets Johnny's answer to a question he asked while treating Penny, and thus believes it is Johnny who impregnated her. For that reason, after Jake saves Penny's life, he forbids Baby to have anything to do with Johnny or his friends. Jake is furious at Baby for lying to him and betraying his trust. Baby, however, defies him and sneaks out to visit Johnny in his room that same night, where they consummate their blossoming romance with some intimate dancing.
Johnny and Baby's relationship is eventually revealed after Johnny is accused of stealing a wallet from one of the resort guests and is unable to provide a verifiable alibi. To save Johnny from being fired, Baby confesses that Johnny could not have been responsible, as she was with him in his cabin that night. While Johnny is cleared of the theft, Max still fires Johnny for violating the ban on having affairs with guests. Baby's selfless act inspires Johnny to realize that "there are people willing to stand up for other people no matter what it costs them."
At the final talent show of the season, Jake gives Robbie a check to help defray the costs of medical school. Robbie then willingly confesses to getting Penny pregnant and insults her in the process, leading Jake to angrily snatch the envelope back. Also, to everyone's surprise, although Johnny's been fired and left the premises, he returns to the resort to perform the final dance of the season with Baby. Criticizing the Housemans for their choice of Baby's seat at the table, Johnny declares the now-famous line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner," as he pulls her up from their table. He leads her onstage, interrupting the show which is already in progress. After Johnny makes a brief speech about how "Frances" has made him a better man, he and Baby dazzle the audience with a stunning dance performance to the song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", which ends with Baby doing the lift successfully for the first time.
After the dance, Jake apologizes to Johnny and admits that he was wrong to assume Johnny had gotten Penny "in trouble". Jake also praises Baby for her dancing. The film ends as the dance sequence continues and the room is transformed into a nightclub, where everyone (staff and guests) dances together.
Read more about this topic: Dirty Dancing
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