Greta (Hilary Duff) is seventeen, bright, beautiful and seriously rebellious, full of sarcastic wit that barely disguises the hurt she feels from her troubled childhood. Pushed aside by her mother, Karen, who is on her third marriage and counting, Greta is shipped to her grandparents' (Ellen Burstyn and Michael Murphy) for the summer and is not happy about it. Forced to find a summer job, she is pleasantly surprised to fall in love with a fellow restaurant worker (Evan Ross) but finds that her summer romance is not without serious complications.