Stella is a fifteen-year-old girl living in Bristol, England in the 1970s. Recently having gone through puberty, she laments her lack of a love life to her best friend, Madeleine. That changes quickly when she meets Valentine, a boy who introduces her to Samuel Beckett and communism. They start dating, much to the annoyance of Stella’s mother and stepfather, Gerry. Valentine and Stella dream of moving to New York or Paris after they finish school, where he’ll work as a writer and she'll work as a waitress. Valentine tells Stella about a teacher, Mr. Harper, who believes in his ability to study English at university. Stella’s happy that Valentine is succeeding at school. Eventually, Stella and her parents get into a fight after she insults Gerry, gets high, and revolts against Valentine being banned from their house. She goes to Valentine’s, where they have sex before being pelted by milk from someone outside the house. It turns out that the person who threw the milk is Mr. Harper, who had been having sexual relations with Valentine on the side. Valentine and Stella break up, and she wonders who she could have been had she never met him. Unfortunately, she gets pregnant, so his presence in her life will never be erased.