Young Henry Faber is an average suburban kid who lives with his parents and his sister. His dad works hard at the office, his mother is a dedicated homemaker who cares for her children, and cooks and keeps house, his older sister does - whatever it is preteen girls do; Henry doesn't know or really care - and Henry does all the usual, average suburban kid things during his summer vacation from school: he plays field hockey (enthusiastically, if not very well), he goes swimming at the 'Y' and he hangs around the house feeling bored. But then he becomes fascinated by the new neighbor, Mrs. Pomerantz, and her glamorous, exotic lifestyle.
Henry has never seen anyone like Mrs. Pomerantz: she's a blond, beautiful divorcée who has moved into the neighborhood along with her sons, one of whom is Henry's age. Mrs. Pomerantz goes out on dates, she rides in taxis, she orders Chinese take-out for her family's dinner, but most wondrous of all, the house she has moved into has an in-ground swimming pool! Henry longs to be invited to join the Pomerantz boys for a swim on lazy summer afternoons, but the younger Pomerantz son - the one who is his age - inexplicably has taken a dislike to Henry, and seizes every opportunity to let him know it, making sure Henry is pointedly chosen last for field hockey, or even is left out entirely by 'forgetting' to let him know a game has been scheduled at the school yard.
Well, Henry has a Plan. He decides to use his wits to get that invitation to swim in the pool, since it's never going to happen if he relies on the younger Pomerantz boy's good will. How Henry goes about finessing an afternoon spent poolside, as Mrs. Pomerantz's guest, and how he ultimately learns that a glamorous, exotic lifestyle is in the eye of the beholder, makes this an original and amusing film.
