 Alice, a ten-year-old girl (Eliza Dushku), has a crush on the 17-year-old wild girl across the street (Julliette Lewis). She leads a three-person cheering section (including minor character Kathryn, played by Katherine Heigl) as the teenager, named Sheryl, falls in love and has forbidden liaisons with a young man from the bowling alley. Eventually, Alice becomes instrumental, in spite of her parents  alarm, in helping the two lovers to resolve the difficulties of their relationship and run away together. In the process Alice herself becomes more mature.