There Goes My Baby

The senior class gathers for their final night together at Pop's Paradise Café, a place slated for demolition in two days to make way for a mall. The friends share their hopes, dreams, and fears as the neon lights flicker and the clock ticks toward the unknown. They are acutely aware that a chapter is ending, even as a bigger city outside wrestles with change.

Calvin becomes the first Westwood High graduate to win a full scholarship to Princeton University. His achievement signals a path toward a bright future while he wrestles with responsibilities back home in Watts. The news ripples through the group, shaping their expectations for what their own lives might become.

Stick reveals he is enlisting and is scheduled to report to basic training in two days. The looming draft casts a shadow over his ideal of surfing and carefree youth. The knowledge of impending deployment tightens the mood for everyone at Pops.

The Watts riots begin to spill onto the streets as fear and anger rise in the city. Finnegan, who has unofficially adopted Calvin, drives him toward the riot zone to check on his grandmother. The dangerous journey shows how personal ties become test cases amid social upheaval.

During the confrontation, Finnegan is attacked by rioters, forcing Calvin to send him back toward safety. He continues the mission alone to find his grandmother, driven by loyalty and a sense of duty. The events underscore the risks friends face when the city explodes in unrest.

Morrisey, distraught over his brother’s death in Vietnam, joins a protest and burns his draft card. He is arrested amid the chaos, signaling how strongly the friends’ politics and fears are colliding with law enforcement. The act deepens the group’s sense of consequence and risk.

Sunshine reveals she is pregnant, and the couple faces an uncertain future with no clear plan. Pirate learns there is a place Sunshine can consider for an abortion, introducing a difficult choice about fate, responsibility, and their relationship. The secret keeps their bond fragile as the city roils around them.

Babette pursues her dream of a singing career and thinks ahead to an appearance on Shindig, the local live rock program. The group rallies around friends’ ambitions even as the night grows tenser. Her goal becomes a beacon of hope amid the turmoil.

The next day, Calvin returns to his job at Pop’s Paradise Café with his grandmother safe but the night’s events linger in his thoughts. Pirate and Sunshine wrestle with what to do about the baby, while Tracy mourns the breakup with Finnegan. Stick and Finnegan confront the reality of their looming deployments and the war.

As the evening closes, the friends learn that Morrisey has hanged himself in his cell, a stark reminder of the war’s reach into their lives. The revelation shakes the group and compounds their sense of loss and danger. Their memories of Morrisey become a catalyst for the decisions they will make next.

Finnegan returns to the high school and burns the bronze statue on the front lawn in a protest on behalf of his fallen friend. The act is a bold, symbolic gesture that cements their determination to take a stand. It also marks a turning point in how the group copes with the night’s losses.

Sunshine decides to keep the baby but chooses not to tell Pirate, a decision that weighs heavily on both of them. They part in the Pop’s parking lot as Sunshine boards a Volkswagen bus headed for the Bay Area. The farewell captures the distance growing between their paths.

Babette finally gets her wish to perform on Shindig, belting out Leader of the Pack. The moment provides a rare note of triumph amid a night of upheaval. Her appearance foreshadows a future success in the music world.

Mary Beth’s voiceover reveals the fates of the friends: Pop’s is demolished and replaced by a mall, Sunshine remains her best friend, Pirate dies in action in the Mekong Delta, Babette continues in music, Calvin becomes a Princeton-educated lawyer and later a senator, Tracy’s life is turbulent, and Stick earns a Bronze Star and runs a surf shop. Finnegan writes a book about the night, telling their story and dedication. The epilogue ties the past to the present in a bittersweet farewell.