While working as a counselor at a summer camp| college-student Marjorie Morgenstern falls for 32-year-old Noel Airman| a would-be dramatist working at a nearbysummer theater. Like Marjorie| he is an upper-middle-class New York Jew (born 'Ehrman')| but has fallen away from his roots| and Marjorie's parents object amongother things to his lack of a suitable profession| such as medicine or law. Noel himself warns Marjorie repeatedly that she's much too naive and conventional forhim| but they nonetheless fall in love. As they pursue an on-again-off-again relationship| Marjorie completes her studies at Hunter College| and works to establishan acting career| while Noel first leaves the theater for a job with an advertising agency| but later completes a musical he'd started writing before he and Marjoriehad first met. Meanwhile| their relationship deepens (though| consistent with '50s Hollywood mores| the more full-fledged sexuality in their relationship is neverexplicitly communicated...