In 1956, 17-year-old Jonathan Bellah of small-town Nelsonville, Ohio is a straight-laced, inexperienced raging-hormone mass of a high-school senior hopelessly crushing on the out-of-his-league Marilyn McCauley. Then Chicagoans Gene Harbrough and his father move in next door to the Bellahs and motorcycle-riding Gene becomes Jonathan's classmate. Gene emulates the James Dean type, which generally makes him successful with the opposite sex. In befriending Jonathan, Gene vows to help him in his pursuit of Marilyn, betting that he can get Jonathan to lose his virginity with Marilyn within 30 days. Gene himself has eyes only for Bunny Miller, who is officially-unofficially dating Kenny Brubaker, son of Nelsonville's most prominent businessman. Jonathan considers Kenny an entitled creep who uses his big-man status to bully. Bunny has her eye on Gene--but so does Marilyn. Gene's own pursuit of Bunny has Kenny as an obstacle--a dangerous one, as he will let nobody supplant his rightful place with Bunny, whose parents can't wait to welcome Kenny into their family and lives. Meanwhile, Gene's own troubled homelife mirrors that of Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).—Huggo