FIRST LOVE

College student David is having sex with a woman named Shelly until his girlfriend then pounds on his dorm room, demanding to know who is in there with him. Wearing only a towel, Shelly goes into the room next door, which belongs to David's friend Elgin. Shelly says that she will only be there until David finishes having sex with his girlfriend; but it takes a lot longer. David later thanks Elgin by setting him up with Shelly.

Elgin first sees Caroline during a meal. After the meal, Elgin and Shelly separate from David and his girlfriend, ending up in his room. Shelly declares that she likes Elgin, offers to have sex with him and disrobes. Shocked, Elgin spurns her advances.

Elgin is later working as the busboy at the school's cafeteria. There, he has his first conversation with Caroline but ends up spilling tea on her and her book. She still leaves her dormitory name on a sheet of paper and he goes to see her with a new copy of the book. She eventually agrees to go and have coffee with him. She alludes to having another boyfriend, but he is smitten and decides to join a class she is in, three weeks after it had started. Caroline reveals that her father is dead. She and Elgin later go on their first real date to the symphony.

Caroline introduces Elgin to the other man, John, who is already married. She is shaken by this meeting and asks to spend a night with Elgin, because she does not want to be alone. They start having sex but are interrupted by David who says that Elgin is late for work. Elgin runs to work and David convinces Caroline to take a ride back to her dorm on his motorcycle. Elgin spots them together and fights David in a jealous rage. Caroline then tells him that she is not interested in David. Elgin is relieved but later gets fired for being late to work.

David and Caroline watch Elgin while he plays a successful game of soccer. Elgin and Caroline were having sex again when he asks about John, who worked with her father as a lawyer, and whom she had known all her life. He gets jealous after learning that she slept with John, but Caroline gets mad about the entire conversation. Elgin gets nervous when he cannot get hold of her, but finds a note which tells him to join her, alone, at her family's estate. Elgin meets Caroline and they pick up where they left off, but she resists him while they are in her childhood playhouse. She told him that this is the place where her father committed suicide. The phone rings before they drive together back to school. En route, Caroline says that it was John on the phone. Caroline explains that John wants her back, and they cannot see each other any more. Elgin pulls his motorcycle out from the back of the car and leaves alone. Elgin returns to his dorm to find Shelly sitting by his door. Shelly declares her love for David, but thinks that he does not feel the same. Elgin turns Shelly down for sex a second time.

Elgin runs into Caroline saying goodbye to John. She told Elgin that she is with John and that it is over between them. Elgin gets drunk and again finds Shelly at his door. Elgin accepts Shelly's third proposition; but she leaves in the middle of their tryst when he calls her Caroline. Elgin goes to Caroline's shared class, but leaves in the middle of the lecture when she does not show up. Elgin then visits John at his office. He professes his love for Caroline and asks John if his intentions are honorable. John says that he has a shaky marriage, but his kids are important and does not know if he can divorce his wife. Caroline shows up in Elgin's room in the middle of the night, has sex with him, and then brings him breakfast in the morning. John decides that he will not get the divorce, but Elgin is mad that he is second best. Elgin takes Caroline back, despite this fact. This eventually tears him up inside and he tells Caroline his love for her is gone and their relationship is over. He says goodbye to her as she leaves him alone on a train. He later continues his old habit of playing solitary soccer.

Caroline ultimately decides to be with John, telling Elgin they cannot see each other anymore, and Elgin is left alone to process the end of his first love.

The ending underscores the bittersweet nature of young love—rich in passion but often shaped by mismatched expectations and personal baggage. Elgin’s heartbreak signals a painful step in his coming-of-age, forcing him to accept that desire, experience, and emotional readiness don’t always align. The film leaves him wiser, if not entirely healed, showing that first love often lingers long after its final goodbye.