Plot

An intelligent graduate and working-class Army veteran has an affair and clashes with a 'nouveau riche' young woman who cares not for birth control or the use of any other precautions to avoid pregnancy.

A Jewish man and a Jewish woman meet, and while attracted to each other, they find that their worlds are very different. She is the quintessential Jewish American Princess, very emotionally involved with her parents' world and the world they have created for her; he is much less dependent on his family. They begin an affair, which brings more differences to the surface.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Neil Klugman works in the public library and lives in New York with his Jewish aunt, rather than in Arizona with his parents. College-girl Brenda Patimkin very much lives with her well-to-do Jewish family. The two are attracted and start seeing each other. As the relationship gets more serious, Brenda's mother gets increasingly hostile to Neil.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

OK, Ill give it a whirl: Working-class background city Jew Neil Klugman meets suburban Jewish Ivy Leaguer Brenda Patimkin while a guest at Brendas country club. They begin a steamy romance, heavily disapproved of by the Patimkins, particularly Brendas cold, snobby mother.

Stuck without a place to live for the remainder of the summer, Brenda invites Neil to move into her familys home at the height of planning for Brendas brothers upcoming wedding, causing Brenda's mother to go ballistic.

Brenda is highly conflicted about her relationship with her parents and her upper-class background. In one scene, she accuses her family of tiptoeing around each other, never really communicating; in a later scene, when Neil tries to caution her about birth control, she childishly resists but ultimately acquiesces and gets a diaphragm.

The diaphragm turns out to be her downfall, as her mother finds it in a drawer and pulls a heavy guilt-trip on her, letting her know that she has let them down in the most disgraceful way possible.

When Neil shows up at Radcliffe for a visit, Brenda tearfully shows him her parents letters that essentially disown her for her sin of 1) dating a man beneath her class and 2) having sex with him. Realizing that underneath her saucy veneer, Brenda is actually heavily dependent upon her parents approval, he walks out the door and leaves her crying, alone.