Young lovers Deanie Loomis (Natalie Wood) and Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty, in his big-screen debut) find their awakening sexuality at odds with their own moral standards -- and those of their 1920s rural Kansas community. But trying to resist their carnal urges leads to mutual heartbreak ... and to madness for the fragile Deanie. Director Elia Kazan's profile of the repercussions of pent-up pubescent lust netted an Oscar for Best Screenplay.