Connecticut high-school students Max Doyle and Jessica Carpenter fall in love and feel making love isn't enough, so they brave everyone's objections and get married. Jess gets accepted at Harvard, to pursue her lifelong ambition to become an orthopedic surgeon; Max decides against accepting any other college and waits for another chance to get in, meanwhile taking a job in construction. They end up spending little time together; she even sort of falls for fellow student Carter, a gifted guitarist-singer. When Max announces that he no longer aspires to college, she blames him for changing their plans. This is too much ingratitude for his love to overlook.