To help her sorority win a coveted award that has eluded them in past years, she joins them in training some handicapped young adults for the Challenged Games (a fictional version of the Special Olympics).

He is kind towards her and soon she finds herself developing affection towards him as he is genuine, unlike her boyfriend Kent Woodlands, and her sorority sisters, as led by Julie Thurber.

Carolyn experiences backlash and disdain about the relationship from her friends and family, including Pumpkin's own mother, Judy, despite the fact that her love has inspired him to get out of his wheelchair and become the best athlete on the team.

Carolyn makes a suicide attempt by taking most of the pills and solutions from her medicine cabinet, but vomits them up.

When Carolyn tries to take Pumpkin inside to the dance, Julie and her sorority sisters block the door.

He swerves to avoid a truck and plunges off a cliff with the car exploding in mid-air, crashing to the bottom.

[2] The site’s critics consensus reads: "The messy Pumpkin wastes its premise by not making the satire sharp enough.

[3] One of the most positive reviews was by Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times; he wrote, "Pumpkin is alive, and takes chances, and uses the wicked blade of satire in order to show up the complacent political correctness of other movies in its campus genre.

"[5] On the other end of the spectrum, Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that the film "gets along on curiosity value for a while, but becomes increasingly unconvincing and ludicrous as it staggers endlessly toward the finish line.

"[8] Albert Nowicki of Movies Room ranked it among the fifteen best overlooked 21st century indie films.