Johnny Rourke, a teenage outcast and football player, falls for Tracey Prescott, Daryl Hannah. She is officially dating his teammate Randy Daniels. A random draw at the high school Tin Can-Can dance pairs Johnny and Tracey, and the two worlds collide in a charged moment on the dance floor.
Worlds collide and opposites attract as they connect on the dance floor. Jealous Randy picks a fight with Johnny, the coach intervenes, and Johnny leaves in a huff. Tracey follows, and he offers to take her out on his motorbike. He shows her his lookout spot, and they talk about their future plans.
The next day at school Johnny gets a call from the mill, as his dad is too drunk to work. It causes him to be late to practice, so the coach berates him. When he does not divulge why, he is kicked off the team. Arriving home in a belligerent mood, he argues with his father, who smashes his stereo and throws him out.
At home, Tracey talks to her mom, lamenting that she is considered to be the perfect daughter. She tears out of her driveway and down the road. Johnny detects her inquietude, follows closely, then he gets her to stop.
They sneak into the high school. Reading his file identifying him as anti-social and potentially dangerous since his mother's abandonment, Johnny and Tracey go on a rampage. They strew file contents throughout the halls, freeing the animals and creatures in the biology classroom, smash trophy cases, and dive into the pool, where a moment of closeness deepens their bond.
Johnny wakes up alone, so he seeks Tracey out at her house, as she is meant to be alone for the weekend. He pushes his way in, and although she weakly resists at first, they manage to talk through their situation. They are interrupted by Tracey’s younger brother Davey, who explains her family came back early. He helps sneak Johnny out.
At the pep rally that night, Johnny asks to speak to her. She arrives very late to his lookout. He reiterates how he needs to leave, and the moment unsettles her. For a few days she avoids him at school. He gets called into the factory again, this time to clear out his father’s locker after his death.
After the funeral, which Tracey attends from afar, Johnny tries to go through his father’s things. Finding keepsakes of his mother who abandoned them, he burns them along with the place, a stark act that underscores his turbulent emotions and scarred past.
Hopes are dashed, future prospects dim, and the omnipresent steel mill looms large in the background of this one-industry town. Johnny comes to grips with the unraveling family history—his estranged mother and the recently deceased father—while facing an uncertain road ahead.
Johnny goes to the careers fair, wanting to speak alone with Tracey. She is forced to decide between her stable longtime boyfriend Randy and Johnny. Johnny declares his love for her, and they drive off together on his motorcycle to Davey’s cheers.
