The setting is a well-to-do vacation colony on the shores of Lake Erie, the time 1945, during the final stages of World War II.
Charlie, an incipiently rebellious fourteen-year-old, is summering with his mother and sister (his father is fighting in the Pacific) before going off to an expensive boarding school in the fall.
Although he intended to spend the summer loafing and socializing with his friends (such as Ted), the need for spending money forces him to take a job as handyman for an iconoclastic, bohemian art teacher, Anna Trumbull, a former member of the "upper crust" who has lost both her fortune and her regard for the ideals of her upbringing.
Struggles with trying to be his own person, pleasing his mother, impressing his friends, and "growing to his full potential" with Anna.
In the end, she chose society over Anna's odd ways because she thought it was more proper and it was the rich thing to do.
In a state of MAJOR teen angst, she is slightly overweight, and mentions it a few times throughout the show.
She is described as quite nerdy and dorky, but in the end the audience sympathizes with when they realize that her father died of a heart attack at a young age and she has been following the boys around in hopes for a male figure in her life.
In 1982, Barbara Feldon and Eileen Heckart starred in a touring production which included stops at the Westport Country Playhouse and Denver's Elitch Theatre.
Directed by Joan Micklin Silver, the cast included Julie Bovasso as Anna Trumbul, Christine Estabrook as Elsie, and Robert Joy as Ted.
The Cast was as follows (2003): Charlie: (In alternating performances): Giddony Sanchez/ Shawn Anthony Anderson; Anna Trumbull: Sarah Douchez; Elsie: Jade Prudent; Grace: Elizabeth Keel; Bonny: Genieva Croley; Ted: John Ruiz.
In 2015, a new production opened at Signature Theatre Company in New York City, with Noah Galvin in the role of Charlie, Kristine Nielsen as Anna Trumbull, Kate McGonigle as Elsie, Carolyn McCormick as Grace, Juliet Brett as Bonny, and Pico Alexander as Ted.