Plot summary

Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1963Recent high school graduate Luanne Clatterbuck (Page Hannah), an uptight, prim, and proper, red haired, specticaled senator's daughter leaves her house to pick up her friends for a weekend getaway. She picks up Caroline "Pudge" Carmichael (Annabeth Gish), an insecure middle-class brunette who is conscious about her weight. They pick up Melaina Buller (Bridget Fonda), the blonde, flamboyant and promiscuous daughter of a local preacher. Finally they drive to the house of their friend Carson McBride (Phoebe Cates) to pick her up for their summer weekend getaway. Carson, who is engaged to her high school beau, Harley Ralston (Tyrone Power Jr.), panics when she hears, while in the car, the girls are taking her to Myrtle Beach instead of Fort Sumter, where they all told their parents they were going. Although Carson claims she is not allowed to go to Myrtle Beach, her friends are set on showing her a good time before her wedding.At Myrtle Beach, they see a banner for the Sun Fun Festival that weekend, and an advertisement for a "shag" dance contest at The Pavilion. This piques the interest of Pudge, who loves to dance the shag. Arriving at the beach house owned by Luanne's father, Senator Clatterbuck (Donald Craig), she gives everyone strict rules not to sit on the furniture, use the telephone, or open her father's liquor cabinet.That evening, Carson bursts into tears, worried that the girls will forget her when they go to college and questioning her decision to marry Harley. The girls assure Carson she will be okay and take her dancing at The Pavilion. There, Buzz Ravenal (Robert Rusler) and Chip Guillyard (Scott Coffey), two local boys who taunted the girls in traffic earlier, sit down with Carson and Pudge. Carson tells Buzz she is engaged, but he persuades her to dance with him anyway. Desperate for a shag partner, Pudge asks Chip to dance, but he tells her he does not know how.Melaina attracts the attention of a local named "Big Bob," (Jay Baker) but two local girls, Suette (Leilani Sarelle) and Nadine (Carrie Hamilton), antagonize her. In the ladies room, Melaina overhears Suette discussing plans with Nadine to compete in the Miss Sun Queen Pageant the next day. Melaina emerges from a bathroom stall and vows to beat Suette.Meanwhile, Chip tries to make conversation with Pudge, asking if she knows any elephant jokes. She prickles, assuming he is making fun of her weight. Chip assures her he doesn't think she has a weight problem. Buzz asks Carson to go "parking" with him, but she refuses. However, he lures her to a boardwalk amusement park with Pudge and Chip. Melaina leaves The Pavilion with Big Bob, and Luanne is outraged that all her friends have abandoned her and worse still, tries to escape from a crazy guy who wants to dance with her.At a secluded parking spot, Big Bob tries to have sex with Melaina, who is still a virgin. She fights him off and receives unexpected help when Suette and Nadine appear, pulling her out of the car. After reprimanding Big Bob, the girls spray Melaina with shaving cream, cover her in feathers, force alcohol down her throat, and leave her lying on the ground. A little later, Luanne drives by in search of Melaina and rescues her after finding her laying on the ground, very inebriated and singing Bible songs. She takes Melaina back to the house to bathe and clean her up. Melaina tells Luanne about what the two young women did to her and vows to get back at them by entering and winning the Miss Sun Queen beauty pageant.Meanwhile, Pudge, Chip, Carson and Buzz go to a drive-in restaurant. Pudge gives Chip dance lessons, while Buzz offends Carson by calling her uptight and conventional. She argues that she doesn't believe in "free love" like Buzz, but cannot resist him when he kisses her. Later that night, Carson calls Harley and informs her fiancé she is in Myrtle Beach, not Fort Sumter. Harley encourages her to come home, but Carson insists on staying.In the morning, Chip and Buzz arrive at the beach house. Pudge is confronted by Chip while still in her nightgown and hair rollers, but she is pleased he has come by to see her and she begins their dance lessons. At the same time, Buzz wakes Carson up by dangling a fly fishing lure in her face and asks her to go fishing with him. Once she tells him nothing will ever happen between them, he agrees and says they should just be friends.Meanwhile, Luanne finds Melaina practicing a dance routine in her bikini while waving a Confederate battle flag to the tune of 'Dixie'. She forbids her friend from degrading herself at the Miss Sun Queen Pageant, demanding that she wear a ladylike one-piece bathing suit and perform a dramatic monologue from 'Gone with the Wind', instead. Melaina does not believe the understated approach will help her win. She reminds Luanne that she has no plans for college and needs to make something of herself, but Luanne stands her ground.Pudge and Chip go to the beach, and Chip embarrasses Pudge by reading a questionnaire about sexual experience. Pudge says she is inexperienced because boys do not see her "that way," and Chip reveals he is also a virgin. On a dock, Carson tells Buzz that her fiancée, Harley, plans to work for his father's tobacco company. Unimpressed, Buzz, who will be attending Yale University in the fall, says he plans to travel to Italy.Popular singer Jimmy Valentine (Jeff Yagher) arrives as the celebrity guest judge at the Miss Sun Queen Pageant. Clad in Luanne's one-piece bathing suit, Melaina watches in agony as Suette performs a provocative dance to the strains of "Dixie," clad in a Confederate flag bikini. Harley shows up in search of Carson, and Luanne distracts him as Carson and Buzz flee. Melaina's dramatic monologue draws some snickers from Jimmy Valentine, and Suette is crowned Miss Sun Queen.Backstage, Melaina blames Luanne for her loss, and orders Luanne to invite Valentine back to the beach house for a party. Luanne uses her father's name to convince Valentine to come to the house. Wearing Luanne's mother's clothes, Melaina holds Jimmy Valentine's attention for a while, but he becomes bored and threatens to leave. Chip asks Pudge to dance with him in the shag contest the next day, and she excitedly agrees. Melaina begs Chip to invite more friends over to keep Valentine's interest. Carson and Buzz sneak out of the house to avoid Harley, who bonds with Luanne as droves of locals show up at the house. Luanne tries to control the chaos as the party rages out of control but finally gives up and gets drunk with the other party goers. Meanwhile, Buzz takes Carson to a yacht owned by Luanne's father and convinces her to sleep with him. At the party, Chip drunkenly offends Pudge by saying he considers her a friend.The next morning, Elvira (Pearl Jones), the Clatterbucks' maid, arrives to find Luanne and Harley passed out on the front lawn and the whole inside of the house a mess. Elvira informs Luanne that her parents are set to arrive at noon. Luanne panics. Jimmy Valentine's manager shows up to retrieve his client, and tells Melaina he would never allow his client's career to be derailed by a low-class Southern girl.On the yacht, Buzz suggests Carson break up with Harley and attend college near Yale. Carson returns to the house and tells the other girls she lost her virginity. Luanne guesses Carson must love Buzz, but Carson says she hates him. She says that she is wild, and wonders if she should break off her engagement. Melaina fixes up her hair and steals one of Mrs. Clatterbuck's dresses with plans to dress up as a sophisticated starlet and impress Jimmy Valentine's manager. Pudge laments her unrequited love for Chip, and Melaina advises her to make herself look irresistible and act dismissive. Luanne gives Chip the task of picking up her parents at the airport and taking them directly to The Pavilion, where the Clatterbucks are set to judge the shag contest. Luanne then tasks everyone with cleaning up the mess in her parents house prior to their arrival. Luanne also tells Chip that Pudge must go back to Spartanburg with her and will therefore miss the contest.Driving the Clatterbucks into town in his car, Chip bemoans his missed opportunity with Pudge, and Senator Clatterbuck takes a liking to him when he realizes Chip is headed to his alma mater, the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Pudge gives Melaina a ride to The Pavilion in Luanne's car, and goes inside herself when she discovers that Melaina left her bag in the car. Pudge runs into Chip, and they enter the shag dance contest. Luanne and Harley, along with Buzz and Carson, then drive in Buzz' car (damaged and covered with shaving cream) to the Pavillion as well.After arriving at the Pavilion in search of the other girls, Luanne sees her parents as the judges in the shag contest as it gets underway with Nadine and her boyfriend, who happens to be Big Bob, also having entered and dancing their own dace. Luanne wants to concoct a story to tell her parents, but Carson urges her to tell them the truth about their weekend of forgoing Fort Sumter and Charleston for Myrtle Beach. Luanne says she'll tell her parents the truth if Carson tells Harley the truth. Carson tells Harley she can't marry him because she's in love with Buzz, and Luanne spills the beans about the two "going all the way" at her parents yacht. Harley attempts to hit Buzz, who ducks his blow and hits a mirror instead, and Luanne comforts him.Chip and Pudge dance the shag to the song "Stagger Lee," and embrace when they win the contest, beating out Nadine and Big Bob. Jimmy Valentine's manager tells Melaina she has potential, and they discuss her future in Hollywood.Later, the Clatterbucks host a lawn party at the beach house. Harley and Luanne flirt (implying that they might hook up with each other). Nearby, Buzz and Carson are seen happy together after hooking up. Buzz tells Carson she should buy a winter coat so she can visit him at Yale. Melaina decides not to return home to her "holly roller" tyrant of a preacher father and travel right away to California to make it in the entertainment business. Chip tells Pudge that he will keep in touch with her after he leaves town and joins the US Naval Academy in Maryland. The film ends with the four girlfriends, Carson, Luanne, Melaina and Pudge, entertaining the party goers with a performance of their school song, "Hail Spartanburg High."