It is Jonny's sixteenth birthday and his family has decided to visit a nearby city to celebrate. When they arrive, they discover it is the city's hundredth anniversary, which they call their hundredth centennial. The town is throwing a festival of sorts, with different attractions and speakers, while the family goes about the shops, looking for a present for Jonny. His two little sisters, Polly Ann and Margaret, argue between buying him a green hat or a lighter. Polly Ann thinks the lighter would be something sdpecial for him, despite the fact that he doesn't smoke, but her problem is that even with their money combined, they don't have enough for it. Meanwhile, Jonny and Seth break off from the group with their friend, Flip, Jonny wanting to explore the town on his own, being sixteen and all. While wandering around, they spot their uncle Albert with a girl, and go to investigate. Inside a restaurant, they approach Albert, who introduces them to Clarene. Clarene teaches Jonny how to dance, then gives him a few drinks of beer and whiskey, reminiscing on when she was sixteen herself. Jonny ends the night too drunk to walk. Flip tries to dance with Clarene, but she rejects him. The rejection makes him leave, seeing Polly Ann at the store admiring the lighter. Flip taunts her at first, threatening to buy it for himself, then suggests that he'll buy it for her if she dances with him, to which she hesitatingly obliges. By two in the morning, the family makes their way back to their car. Polly Ann is upset from having to dance with Flip, but gives Jonny the lighter it earned her. Jonny doesn't care for the lighter, asking why she even thought he'd want it, leading them to fight. Polly Ann is sobbing, trying to take the lighter back, then throwing it out the car window.