16-year-old Mary Faith Rapple is an atypical teenager: in addition to tutoring an adult G.E.D. night class, taking care of her single father Jesse and receiving the National Merit Scholarship from both Yale and Duke University, considering that she's never joined an academic club or played any sports Mary Faith is a loner until she meets Michael Yaeger who is a fellow loner who just moved to Due East and becomes her first love, the two play hooky and have sex for the first time, Mary Faith soon discovers she's pregnant from the encounter and becomes the talk of the small South Carolina town.
This film provides examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: In the novel, Mary Faith and Michael's son was named Jesse after her father, in the film he's named Marlon AKA Mars.
- Adults Are Useless: Mary Faith's aunt convinces her to abort her baby and most of the neighbors accuse Stephen Dugan of sleeping with Mary Faith and getting her pregnant.
- The Aloner: Mary Faith
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted, Michael Yeager isn't a bad boy per se; he just has a James Dean-like vibe to him, down to his penchant for motorcycles.
- The Alcoholic/Lady Drunk: Becky Purdue, along with her ex-husband and his new wife, and Stephen Dugan's mother Nell.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Michael is killed in a motorcycle collision the same time Mary Faith finds out she's pregnant.
- Bathtub Bonding: The film starts off with Mary Faith and her new neighbor Michael taking an intimate bath while taking the day off from school.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Becky's daughter Sissy, possibly due her parents' divorce.
- Carload of Cool Kids: A group of cheerleaders accost Mary Faith on her bike after she has sex with Michael and inform her that she's received the National Merit Scholarship.
- Clean, Pretty Childbirth: Happens when Mary Faith gives birth to Marlon.
- Deep South: The movie takes place in South Carolina.
- Disappeared Dad: Sissy Purdue's dad walked out on the family for his secretary.
- Michael becomes this when he dies in a motorcycle crash.
- First Love: Mary Faith and Michael are this to one another.
- Foreshadowing: Michael tells Mary Faith that he feels like they're from Mars, due to the fact that they understand each other and are outsiders, in the final scene Mary Faith nicknames her son Mars.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Played straight with Mary Faith.
- Instant Emergency Response: Jesse is rushed to the hospital when he has a heart attack after Nell breaks up with him.
- Jerkass: There are many of these:
- Jesse starts off as one after Mary Faith reveals she's pregnant and assumes Stephan Dugan is her baby's father and later refuses to defend her when her uncle Zack insults her.
- Mary Faith's uncle Zack tells Mary Faith that she's white trash and accuses her of disappointing her late mother.
- The school's principal is the biggest one out of all of them, he briefly suspends Mary Faith from tutoring the night school students and threatens to not allow her to attend her graduation.
- Lifetime Movie of the Week: Although the movie does has some of these elements, it actually aired on Showtime.
- Lonely Together: Like Mary Faith, Michael is also a loner especially given the fact that he just recently moved to town.
- Malicious Slander: The Due East residents spread cruel rumors about Mary Faith's pregnancy, even going so far as claiming that her much older and married colleague Stephen Dugan is the father of her unborn son and the school principal accuses her of being a bad influence on the other students because she's pregnant.
- Maternity Crisis/Babies Ever After: Mary Faith goes into labor during her graduation and gives birth to her and Michael's son towards the end of the movie.
- Missing Mom: Mary Faith lost her mom to cancer when she was just 12.
- Overcome with Desire: Mary Faith and Michael Yeager have sex for the first time, not realizing that Mary Faith would end up pregnant.
- Parental Substitute: Becky is this towards Mary Faith.
- Pregnancy Test Plot: After Mary Faith loses her virginity to Michael she takes a pregnancy test, which comes out positive.
- Raised by Grandparents: At the end of the film Marlon is placed with Michael's parents when Mary Faith leaves for college.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: After Mary Faith and Michael kiss in the bathtub, the camera dissolves to them post-coitus in her father's bedroom with Michael telling Mary Faith that he loves her.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Mary Faith and Michael's son Marlon.
- Teen Pregnancy/Surprise Pregnancy
- Their First Time: Implied with both Michael and Mary Faith after taking a bath together.
- Unnamed Parent: Both of Michael's Yeager parents.
- Unusual Euphemism: When Jesse confronts Mary Faith about her pregnancy, Mary Faith sarcastically asks if she's the "town pump", meaning she's having sex with every boy in Due East.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Subverted, Mary Faith nicknames her newborn son Mars after an in-joke between her and Michael (his real name is Marlon).
