Bernard Chanticleer, [Peter Kastner], a naïve nineteen-year-old living in Great Neck, New York, is caught between a domineering mother and a stern, ambitious father, I.H. Chanticleer, [Rip Torn], who runs the incunabula collection at the New York Public Library. Bernard works as a low-level assistant at the library, quietly dreaming of a life beyond the quiet rigidity of his upbringing. His mother and father keep a careful watch over him, with his mother even sending locks of her hair to him as a reminder of family closeness, while his father constantly tests his boundaries and expectations.
When his father decides Bernard is old enough to have his own place, the family arranges for him to move into a rooming house run by the nosy, prim Miss Nora Thing, [Julie Harris]. The building is quirky and claustrophobic, and Miss Thing’s rules feel almost theatrical, especially the fifth-floor rooster she keeps as a bizarre condition of ownership. The rooster’s reputation—attacking young, attractive women—looms large, and Miss Thing reassures Bernard’s mother that it’s all in good fun while the parents hatch a scheme to monitor any “female activity” in his life. The mother, ever hopeful, continues to mail Bernard keepsakes from home, a constant reminder of the world he’s leaving behind.
Despite his protective environment, Bernard is drawn to two very different women. He is immediately drawn to the coldly beautiful actress Barbara Darling, [Elizabeth Hartman], a talent who seems to move through rooms with an electric self-containment. At the same time, his old grade-school classmate Amy Partlett, [Karen Black], who now works in his father’s office, confesses a crush on him. Bernard’s coworker and worldly influence, Raef del Grado, [Tony Bill], pushes him toward dating Amy because she’s a “sure thing,” and he discourages any serious pursuit of Barbara.
On a night out at a discotheque with Amy, Bernard’s attention is seized by Barbara’s performance as the featured go-go dancer. In that moment, Barbara’s offstage allure becomes the magnet that pulls him away from Amy; he is enthralled and loses interest in his date despite Amy’s efforts to win him back by offering to spend the night with him. The night takes a chaotic turn when the rooster on Miss Thing’s floor attacks Amy, triggering a noisy escapade that ends with Miss Thing slipping and breaking her arm. The next morning, Mrs. Chanticleer lashes out at Amy, labeling her a tramp and forbidding any future contact with her son.
The next chapter follows Bernard as he and his parents attend a theater performance featuring Barbara. He channels his adoration into a gushing fan letter, and she responds with an invitation to visit her dressing room after a future performance. In a rush of hope, Bernard heads to the theater, naïvely stepping into a tension-filled evening in Barbara’s dressing room. Barbara, with a keen sense of control, attempts to seduce him, but he remains unable to perform, leaving the encounter more awkward than romantic. Barbara acts understanding, but the moment leaves Bernard unsettled and unsure.
Meanwhile, Miss Nora Thing confides to Bernard’s father that Bernard had been out all night, while Amy calls endlessly, creating an atmosphere of suspicion and rumor around the household. An awkward and comic misadventure ensues when Miss Thing and Bernard’s father become trapped in a timelocked vault filled with rare erotica. The episode ends in disarray when the vault opens, and Miss Thing fears she’s the target of a flirtation. In the midst of this chaos, Amy confesses that Bernard’s father has, in fact, made a pass at her, complicating the emotional landscape.
Barbara extends an invitation for Bernard to move in with her, a proposal that comes when Miss Thing evicts him from his room. Barbara’s hospitality is volatile—she abruptly kicks him out, only to call him back when he has nowhere else to go. The couple remains unable to resolve their deeper tensions, and Bernard, still confused and anxious, even asks Barbara to marry him, a notion neither of them treats with seriousness. When Bernard finally returns to Barbara’s apartment after taking his dog for a walk, he finds Raef—Barbara’s current escort in a bathrobe, sent by his own father. Bernard gathers his belongings and leaves again.
Back at the library, Amy and Bernard’s parents discuss the situation, and Bernard declares that he’s leaving to escape the pressure and the chaos of his family’s expectations. Barbara and Raef soon arrive with Bernard’s dog, revealing that they have become engaged, while Miss Thing and her new boyfriend, police officer Francis Graf, also appear to weigh in on the dispute with Bernard’s father. In a dramatic scramble through a street parade and a department store, Bernard seizes his father’s prized Gutenberg Bible and flees. Barbara intervenes, knocking Bernard unconscious with a mannequin’s leg, and becomes a local sensation for stopping a rare book thief and saving the Bible for the City of New York. Elated by her newfound fame, Barbara ends her engagement with Raef. Bernard is jailed for attempted theft, but Amy bails him out, and in a pivot of realization, he recognizes that Amy is the one he truly wants to be with. The two leave together, stepping into a future that finally feels like it could be theirs.
