Plot
A group of teenage girls from the Atlanta area go to summer camp, and two of them make a bet as to which one will lose her virginity first. The two girls then choose "targets", or guys they want to be the ones they lose their virginity with. Unbeknownst to the adults, all the girls in camp bet money on the contest and divide into two "teams," each rooting for and egging on either Ferris (Tatum O'Neal) or Angel (Kristy McNichol). At the same time, the girls engage in typical teenage behavior, such as food fights and other activities.
The girls involved in the contest are opposites and rivals: cynical, suspicious and streetwise poor girl Angel Bright and romantic rich girl Ferris Whitney. Both girls discover that "it" is not what they thought it was.
Ferris thinks of love as romance and wine and flowers. She imagines herself swept off her feet by Gary, the camp counselor. When she lies about "making love" with him, the biological side manifests itself in others' reactions to what she said she did. She discovers that, at least in the context of a camp counselor having sex with a fifteen year-old, sex can be hurtful and its consequences ugly. Her attitude is now more grounded in reality; she has become more like street-wise Angel.
Angel approaches the same issue from the other side. She views winning the contest as a mechanical, purely biological function, "no big deal" as her mother has told her. But when she tries to do "it" with Randy (Matt Dillon) in the boathouse, she becomes confused by feelings she did not know she had. She behaves very defensively, as if Randy is trying to force her to have sex. Randy, who could take it or leave it, is put off by her recalcitrance and leaves. She then must admit to herself that sex is not a mechanical function she can cynically turn on and off, but is something she deeply wants to do.
Angel reconnects with Randy later with a much improved attitude, one closer to Ferris'. This time she pays attention not to clothing removal procedures and condoms, but to her feelings for Randy.
In the end, Ferris discovers that love involves sex, which is not always romantic, and Angel discovers that sex involves love, which deeply touches her and transforms her soul. They both grow up that summer.
Read more about this topic: Little Darlings
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”
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