Christopher Jones as Paxton Quigley, a notorious womanizer, studies at the fictional Willard College for Men, just a short distance from the Fulton College for Women, with both campuses nestled in the quiet college towns of Vermont. The setting establishes a sharp contrast between the two schools and fuels a web of temptations and power dynamics that define Paxton’s years. From the moment he walks through the campus gates, his charm is paired with a reckless disregard for commitment, a combination that will soon be tested by real affection and mounting consequences.
After a party at the ZX fraternity, he begins a relationship with Yvette Mimieux as Tobey Clinton, a Fulton student whose own family world is about to collide with Paxton’s carefree ethos. The pair fall into a summer romance, choosing to spend long, sunlit days together along the beaches of Provincetown, where freedom and flirtation feel endless. Tobey’s optimism about their future stands in stark contrast to Paxton’s habit of treating relationships as casual escapades, a tension that weighs on Tobey even as she clings to hope.
When Tobey’s parents confront the couple about their living arrangement at Tobey’s family house in Provincetown, a fierce dispute drives them apart for the last two weeks of summer. Tobey returns to Willard with renewed devotion, convinced that Paxton will change his ways, and the two head back to campus with plans for a serious commitment. Yet the shadow of Paxton’s past remains, and the possibility of renewed indiscretion lingers as the new term begins. The fragile trust between them is stretched thin by Paxton’s unspoken temptations and Tobey’s longing for something lasting.
Paxton’s world becomes even more complicated after a chance encounter with a young artist named Eulice, Judy Pace who is also a Fulton student. On a motorcycle ride, she asks to paint him naked, and what begins as a provocative request ends with a prankish revelation: she only wanted to paint his face, but he ends up exposed in more ways than one. Their ensuing motel meeting is charged with a thrilling, reckless energy, and Paxton proudly proclaims his lack of remorse for his conquests, a confession that deepens Tobey’s unease.
Back at the fraternity house, a plan develops among Paxton’s brothers to keep him in the game by dating three young women at once. The idea is simple in theory but corrosive in practice: Paxton would persuade each woman that he is exclusively devoted to her. The scheme unleashes a cascade of near-misses and close calls, including a moment when he nearly gets caught by Tobey and Jan while at a movie. The tension heightens as his double life teeters on the edge of exposure, threatening to derail everything he says he values.
A fateful turning point comes when Paxton witnesses the casual abuse of a drunken student at the Zeta Chi party. Witnessing the injustice stirs something inside him, and he steps forward to defend the vulnerable girl, a moment that marks the beginning of his moral awakening. He then takes a bold step toward genuine commitment by renting an apartment for himself and Tobey, hoping to show he can be serious about their future.
The couple’s renewed bond is tested when Tobey reveals, in a tense attic confrontation, that Eulice, Jan, and she have learned of Paxton’s cheating. Tobey confronts him with the evidence—an art show painting of Paxton by Eulice that confirms his indiscretions—and the three women trap him in the attic, planning to demand constant sexual companionship as a punishment. Paxton’s resistance to this control culminates in a hunger strike that underscores the depth of his desperation and his unwillingness to capitulate to manipulation.
As the term progresses, Paxton’s sudden drop in class attendance triggers a campus-wide concern. The dean of Willard College issues a missing-person description that reaches beyond their own grounds and elicits further suspicion from Fulton’s community. Dean Nazarin, Nan Martin, pieces together the clues from the attic and the dorms, concluding that Paxton is being held at Ford Hall by Tobey, Eulice, and Jan. Her investigation threatens to explode the situation into a full-blown scandal, but she also sees a chance to avert punishment for the young women, balancing justice with mercy.
To Tobey, Dean Nazarin offers a pragmatic, if uneasy, resolution: Paxton can be released, but the campus authorities will not formally sanction the trio. The dean’s intervention reflects a careful, almost clinical approach to a morally tangled dilemma, allowing the three women to preserve their reputations while Paxton recovers from his ordeal and the toll of the past weeks. The rescue is tense and disorienting for Paxton, who experiences vivid hallucinations that underscore the mounting pressure he’s endured and the distorted perceptions that have driven his actions.
When Tobey finally agrees to release him, the real-world consequences of his behavior crash into him: he staggers into an unsuspecting dorm and is knocked unconscious by startled female residents. An ambulance takes him away, and the campus community breathes a heavy sigh, acknowledging the fragile line between forgiveness and punishment. Dean Nazarin’s decisive, discreet intervention ultimately allows the trio to weather the storm without formal censure, a resolution that leaves questions about accountability lingering in the air.
In a final, emotional turn, Paxton—now struggling to rebuild trust—receives help from Eulice to locate Tobey and express a heartfelt, if uneasy, plea for reconciliation. The film closes on a note of fragile hope as Paxton chases Tobey down and convinces her to stay, signaling the possibility of growth and change, even for someone who began with a history of audacious indiscretion. The ending suggests that forgiveness is possible, but it also acknowledges the scars left by a summer of trials and the enduring pull of genuine love.
