Elena is the gorgeous fifteen-year-old who is forced to drag along pudgy twelve-year-old Anais as she trolls for boys in the cafes of a seaside resort where their family is vacationing. Treating Anais with casual cruelty, Elena smooches a handsome young Italian as her sister gorges on a banana split and later, in their shared bedroom, commands her to sleep as the twenty something Lothario climbs in through the window. As Elena is deflowered--in an extended scene of wincing black humor and exquisite accuracy--Anais writhes in fascination, envy and her own budding desire. When Elena1s transgression is revealed to their parents, their furious mother breaks off the holiday and embarks on the long drive home with the girls in the back seat. The summer vacation is over, but, as they discover on a tension-filled journey that leads to the story's startling conclusion, the family adventure is not.