Friends since high school and now in college, twenty year olds Buddy Root, Bob Miller and Stu Bradley each believes life in some respect has done him wrong. Not placing effort into his studies, Buddy has flunked out - he not yet having told his divorced mother - leaving him open for the draft, serving in the army which he has no intention on doing in having begun a relationship with who was his English professor, Doris Dexter, old enough to be his mother. Bob has long been in love with Gloria Stuben, now a waitress at the diner where they hang out, and he intends on marrying her, he having saved $504 thus far from his job as a stock boy in a supermarket to demonstrate his responsibility which Mr. Stuben can see, but at this stage of her life, Gloria only wants to have a good time, primarily with more mature men who have the money to provide that good time. And Stu is awaiting the $500 advance from selling his first novel, he in the process having secretly married Tina Parner, the daughter of a successful businessman. The problem for Stu is that the novel sale and thus the $500 advance is all a lie, he having told this story solely to persuade Tina to marry him and when they tell Mr. Parner of their marriage to show that he too is a success. As each of their situations evolves or devolves as the case may be, they begin to believe that money is the answer to all their problems, it allowing them literally to escape their lives, leading to the fateful decision they make to rob the supermarket where Bob works of $30,000.