15-year-old Sarah and David are dating during the summer after their freshman year of high school, and both are frustrated that they can't yet drive. In a flashback to their freshman year, Choi describes the background to their relationship. Sarah and David are theater students (though they spell this "Theatre") at the prestigious CAPA. Their program is run by a charismatic gay man, Mr. Kingsley, who dominates their experience at the school. Early in their relationship, Mr. Kingsley had the students perform an exercise in which he turns off the lights and has them crawl around in the dark. After an unknown student gropes Sarah's breasts, she and David find each other and kiss in the dark before the lights come back on.

Sarah and David's relationship is in part characterized by the difficulty they have in meeting. The summer after freshman year, David travels to London with his family and sends Sarah postcards. When he returns, he tells his mother he is going to the Jewish Community Center to play racquetball, but instead goes to Sarah's apartment, where they have sex. Later, they meet on the college campus in town and have sex at the university's stadium, though Sarah finds the experience unsatisfying.