Mary Ann ("Pookie") Adams is a
quirky oddball who meets quiet, reserved Jerry Payne while waiting for a bus heading to their colleges; both are first-year students and their colleges are near each other. Jerry notices that Pookie is different, unpredictable: she even lies to a nun on the bus so she can sit closer to him. As Jerry settles into college life, the aggressive Pookie arrives unannounced one Saturday morning. The two spend time together over the weekend, and soon see each other regularly. Jerry falls for Pookie but their different personalities keep them apart. They agree to have sex. Later, Pookie tells Jerry she might be pregnant. When the pregnancy scare is over, Jerry invites Pookie to a large party at his college. Pookie is intimidated by the partygoers, becomes intoxicated, and loudly insults several of them, at which Jerry is angry, but he eventually forgives her. Jerry has invited Pookie to spend Easter vacation (now referred to as spring break) with him and his family. However, he then receives warnings that he is in danger of failing some classes, so he decides not to travel to his family's home, but rather to stay alone at college to catch up on his studies. When he informs Pookie of this, and advises her that she should visit her father during spring break, she desperately begs him to allow her to spend the spring break with him instead, stating that she will not interfere with his studies. Jerry, after refusing several times, reluctantly agrees when Pookie finally breaks down about the prospect of spending time at her family home, where her father will not be present. A week alone with the needy, somewhat unstable Pookie makes Jerry realize they need time apart. Later he discovers she has dropped out of school. In time, he finds her in the same boarding house she had rented the first time she visited him. He puts her on a bus for home and, for now, the young lovers part ways. ==Cast==