- In a staid English seaside town after the Second World War, young Lynda grows up with her widowed father and younger sister. She eventually becomes pregnant by an acquaintance of her father.
- In a staid English seaside town after the Second World War, sixteen-year-old Lynda Mansell grows up with her widowed father and younger sister. Mature beyond her years because of the untimely death of her mother, Lynda has been swearing constantly from an early age. And with the wink of an eye or the flash of a thigh, she finds love in all the wrong places, much to the chagrin of her cautious father. When her father's best friend seduces Lynda - and leaves her pregnant and alone - this outwardly bold, inwardly vulnerable girl must find a manner to veer from the course of self-destruction... and face the inevitable undertaking of growing up.—MGM/UA Home Video
- In 1951 England, Lynda Mansell is a sixteen-year-old girl living in a small seaside town with her younger sister and widowed father. Lynda's outspoken and feisty nature (her favorite insults are "Up your bum!" and "Cock off!") make her a constant source of worry and dismay for her father Hubert. Bored and restless, she partakes in exhibitionistic behavior such as bicycling at the boardwalk with her skirt hiked up and other ruckus-causing mischief. Flashbacks to Lynda's younger years show Lynda has had a vulgar tongue since she was an eleven-year-old, with her father disciplining her for using inappropriate language in front of guests at home. It is clear Lynda was very close with her mother and has not recovered from her mother's untimely death.
Lynda trains to be a hairdresser like her barber father, but ends up messing up a volunteer model's hair. She then takes on another job at a bus station, but is also fired from that. Hubert takes Lynda to see a psychiatrist, who informs Hubert something bad clearly happened to Lynda as a child. One day on the boardwalk, Lynda asks a boy, Brian, once he would like to go to the movies with her. However, their date is awkward and Lynda realizes she is not interested in Brian. Another of Lynda's admirers and a conductor at the bus station, Dave, takes her out dancing and back to his grandmother's vacant house. The sexually naïve Lynda agrees to have sex with him, though the experience is comically shorter than she anticipated.
A projectionist at the movie theater and a friend of her father's, Eric constantly leers at Lynda whenever he sees her. When visiting the Mansell home one day, he flirts with her and puts his hand up her dress when her father isn't in the room. Unaware of what transpired, her father jokes that Eric could make him an offer for his daughter, to which Eric laughs with the response "half a dollar"-an exchange Lynda witnesses. On his way out, Eric makes another pass at Lynda, but she angrily rebuffs him. Lynda later sees Eric hanging around outside her house's gate at night, but she avoids him. While working on a new job at a fish and chip shop, Dave shows up as a customer. However, Dave is accompanied with a new lady friend, angering Lynda.
One evening, Lynda hears her father is entertaining Maisie Mathews, a woman Lynda dislikes, at home. Disgusted, Lynda goes out to the front yard where Eric is quietly waiting, and she tentatively responds to Eric's advances. In order to get Lynda to sleep with him, Eric manipulates Lynda's insecurities about being unwanted and unloved by her father. Lynda gives in, with Eric declining to use protection. Hubert catches Lynda when she is sneaking back from a tryst, and, aware of who she was with, informs her how ashamed he is of her, and how her mother would be as well if she were still alive. After this, Lynda decides to leave home, and, taking some of her mother's old clothes, goes to stay at Eric's loft above the movie theater. Lynda asks if Eric could just cuddle her, but Eric only values her for sex.
The film jumps ahead a few months. Lynda now works as a waitress at a tea house. Eric shows up at the café one day even though he and Lynda are no longer a couple. Refusing to serve him, Lynda sends in another waitress, her friend Vickie, in her place. Lynda and Vickie have a laugh at this as they get off work, but Eric is waiting for Lynda outside. Eric continues to follow Lynda and Vickie despite Lynda shouting she is uninterested in a relationship. When Eric claims he misses her, Lynda reveals she is pregnant. Eric's demands for proof prompts Lynda to angrily expose her stomach to show she is three months along. Eric expresses doubt the baby is his, resulting in a tussle on the pier.
Vickie takes Lynda to a woman who performs illegal abortions, but Lynda says she doesn't have the money to pay and doesn't go inside. Hearing of his estranged daughter's pregnancy, Hubert shows up to the café, insisting Lynda speak to him. Hubert calls Lynda a slut and other insults. Instead of engaging with Hubert, Lynda keeps her distance and condescends back to him. Their back-and-forth turns into a public spat as the other patrons look on. While Hubert rants about how troublesome Lynda always has been and how he plans to disown her, Lynda gets up on a table and rants about stuffy middle-class attitudes towards sex. Lynda is promptly fired from her waitress job, despite applause from the grand dame of the tea room piano.
Desperate and down-on-her-luck, Lynda meets with her Aunt Millie, who tries to persuade Lynda into getting an abortion or to give up the baby for adoption, as women who have children out of wedlock are looked down upon in society. Aunt Millie informs Lynda that the choice is ultimately hers, but leaves her some money to cover an abortion. Lynda returns to the abortion provider but hesitates at the doorstep as she imagines her father and daughter as onlookers.
An epilogue takes place several months later. Lynda is visiting home with her newborn baby. She passes by all the places she used to frequent, including the boardwalk where she used to flash her legs at the boys. Townspeople and former acquaintances are stunned to see her proudly pushing her baby in a pram in public. She makes her way through the bowling greens, past a clearly uncomfortable Eric, defiantly declaring "Yeah, it's mine! All mine." The film ends with Lynda ringing the doorbell to Hubert's home and embracing her baby.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content