Splendor in the Grass (1961) - Plot Summary Poster

Plot Summary

  • It's 1928 in oil rich southeast Kansas. High school seniors Bud Stamper and Deanie Loomis are in love with each other. Bud, the popular football captain, and Deanie, the sensitive soul, are "good" kids who have only gone as far as kissing. Unspoken to each other, they expect to get married to each other one day. But both face pressures within the relationship, Bud who has the urges to go farther despite knowing in his heart that if they do that Deanie will end up with a reputation like his own sister, Ginny Stamper, known as the loose, immoral party girl, and Deanie who will do anything to hold onto Bud regardless of the consequences. They also face pressures from their parents who have their own expectation for their offspring. Bud's overbearing father, Ace Stamper, the local oil baron, does not believe Bud can do wrong and expects him to go to Yale after graduation, which does not fit within Bud's own expectations for himself. And the money and image conscious Mrs. Loomis just wants Deanie to get married as soon as possible to Bud so that Deanie will have a prosperous life in a rich family. When Bud makes a unilateral decision under these pressures, it leads to a path which affects both his and Deanie's future.

    - Written by Huggo
  • Deanie would risk everything to be with Bud. Bud is afraid of his father, the most powerful man in a small Kansas town in 1928. Deanie will have to wait until Bud spends four years at Yale. In the meantime he can't spend a lot of time with her, because Deanie isn't that kind of girl. His sister Ginny, back from Chicago, is a constant reminder just how bad a bad girl can be.

    - Written by Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>
  • Deanie is a beautiful and sensitive teenager who would do whatever her mother and her 1928 Kansas hometown find proper. When Deanie's and boyfriend, Bud's desires intensify, Deanie restrains herself while Bud acts on them, but with another girl. Bud's actions drive Deanie to madness. Can Deanie rebuild her life and find happiness?

    - Written by Kelly
  • The story of two Kansas high school sweethearts growing up in the late 1920s through the stock market crash of 1929. Bud and Deanie are very much in love, but the pressures of sex in society creates a rift in their relationship. Bud's father encourages him to leave Deanie to find "another kind of girl" which drives Deanie into madness. She is committed into an institution while Bud reluctantly obeys his father and enrolls in Yale. The crash of '29 hits and changes the lives of both their families. Together they learn the harsh lesson of love and life in the '20s and sadly go their separate ways.

    - Written by Princess5363




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