One evening at the Cherryvale Academy for Women in southern California, student Christine Ramsay (Phoebe Cates) reads passages from a pornographic novel to her roommate, Betsy Newhouse (Kathleen Wilhoite). Outside the neighboring window, their respective boyfriends, straight-laced Jim Green (Matthew Modine) and the leering Bubba Beauregard (Michael Zorek), from the nearby Freemount Academy for Men, form a human ladder with their nerd/intellectual classmate, Roy (Jonathan Prince), as Bubba photographs senior Jordan Leigh-Jensen (Betsy Russell) taking a shower. Jordan enters Christine's room wrapped in a towel, which Bubba reaches through the window and removes as his friends collapse beneath him. Upon returning to her own dormitory, Jordan tells roommate Rita Flugel (Kari Lizer) of her disdain for Christine, which Rita perceives as jealousy over Jim Green. Though Jordan denies the accusation, she declares her intention to seduce Jim and end his romance with Christine. Later that evening, students from both schools gather for a dance in the Cherryvale ballroom. Miss Prudence Dutchbok (Fran Ryan), the strict and prude headmistress, addresses the crowd and acknowledges the visiting Cherryvale Building Committee, a group of elderly prudish women, which is sponsoring construction of a new wing for the school. She escorts the committee to her office, where they find Bubba and Betsy making love on the couch. The next day, the committee audits Ms. Regina Copuletta's (Sylvia Kristel) sex education class as she details the mechanics of intercourse. After the class, Christine decides she is ready to lose her virginity and makes a weekend reservation for herself and Jim at Hotel D'Amour, a seaside resort for honeymooners. Later that day, during an equestrian class, Jordan tries to attract Jim by exposing her breasts, unaware that he and Christine have left to buy condoms. Jim and Christine drive to a nearby pharmacy, but Jim is so nervous about purchasing condoms that the pharmacist (Martin Mull) mistakes Jim's request for contraceptives for tooth cleaning. Christine is forced to go into the pharmacy to buy the condoms herself and runs into Ms. Regina who is trying on a gaudy face cream supplied by the pharmacist. That evening, Jim, Bubba and Roy are hanging out at a local video arcade when Jim is persuaded to call Christine to tell her that he loves her. Jim phones Christine from a payphone and while Bubba and Roy stand nearby, Jordan listens in on the extension at the school. After Jordan facetiously reciprocates Jim's declaration of love, Christine and Betsy get their revenge by sneaking into Jordan's room in the middle of the night and sabotaging their cheerleader uniforms. The next day, Christine and Betsy realize (too late) they sabotaged the wrong uniform when one of Coach Whelan's (Julie Payne) breasts is exposed during cheer-leading practice. All of the girls, as well as Jim and Bubba and the Freemount football team, have a good laugh. Miss Dutchbok implicates Jordan and Rita in the prank, as well as Christine and Betsy, restricting them to campus for the week. One evening sometime later, Jim, Bubba, and Roy dress as girls (complete with dresses and makeup) in an attempt to visit Christine and Betsy. Once inside the dormitory, they encounter Jordan, who immediately recognizes them. When Jim claims to be "Christine's sister", Jordan invites him to her room and tries in vain to titillate him. Bubba enters Betsy's room with the intention of making love, but is discouraged by her demand for foreplay. He climbs out the window and makes his way to the gymnasium shower room to look at naked girls. But he soon becomes trapped in the sauna when Miss Dutchbok arrives to take a steam bath... leaving him trapped in the sauna. Meanwhile, Jim reveals his true identity to Jordan, who play-acts offended and openly accuses him of trying to seduce her. Though Jim protests his innocence to Christine, she believes Jordan and refuses to discuss the matter. At the same time, Bubba escapes from the sauna and rejoins Jim and Roy where the three guys leave the girls dorm and quietly return to their own dorm. On Parents' Day the following weekend, Jim explains the misunderstanding to Christine's father, who promises to intervene on his behalf. Betsy also speaks to Christine and convinces her to give Jim another chance. Jordan waits impatiently for her father, who embarrasses her with his habitual lateness, while Rita's father, Frank Flugel (Richard Stahl), embarrasses her with his habitual drunkenness. Mr. Leigh-Jensen finally arrives, accompanied by his latest trophy wife, a very young woman named Bambi (Karen Chase). When Mr. Flugel accidentally pushes Miss Copuletta into the swimming pool, Mr. Leigh-Jensen rescues her and offers mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which the teacher encourages. In the parking lot, Miss Dutchbok mistakes the Leigh-Jensen's chauffeur, Chauncey (Ray Walston), for his employer and asks for a donation to the school. He invites Miss Dutchbok into his limousine, draws curtains to cover the windows and seduces her. Assuming the car is empty, Bubba and Betsy make love in the front seat until they realize they are not alone. Betsy places a microphone behind the curtain and connects it to the car's loudspeaker system, broadcasting Miss Dutchbok's seduction to the party-goers. The headmistress reacts by reaching through the curtain and choking Bubba. He accidentally releases the emergency brake, causing the limousine to careen through the party and into the swimming pool. One week later, Christine and Jim leave for the Hotel D'Amour. On the Freemount campus, Bubba bets Roy and the rest of his classmates that he can persuade Jordan to remove her clothes. Expecting a rendezvous with Jim, she enters his dormitory, unaware that several boys are hidden around the room (in the coat closet, under the bed, in the bathroom, etc.). Jordan is forced to remove her dress after Bubba sprays her with red wine, and she sends him out for club soda to remove the stain. Within moments, Betsy arrives and informs Jordan of Bubba's ruse. Upon his return, the two girls beat him up and push him out the window, while the spectators emerge from their hiding places. At the hotel, Christine and Jim find the contrived ambiance of their suite not conducive to romance and go to sleep. In the morning, however, Christine joins Jim on the beach and they make love for the first time in the surf. Months later, Cherryvale's senior class graduates. Jordan rides to the ceremony with her father and his new wife, Miss Copuletta. Jim is in attendance, along with Roy, who is dressed as a middle-aged man, and Bubba, who is dressed as a woman. Mr. Flugel staggers into an adjoining seat and attempts to fondle Bubba, who knocks him unconscious. Following Miss Dutchbok's commencement speech, Betsy leads the girls in the chant, "Graduation Cherryvale, you won't forget us soon; sunny days ahead of us, we leave behind this moon," after which they expose their behinds.
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