| Director | Rob Reiner |
|---|---|
| Genre | coming-of-age film, drama film, film based on a novel, romantic comedy film |
| Runtime | 86 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $14 million |
| Box office | $4.3 million |
In 1957, 7-year-old Bryce Loski moves in next door to Julianna "Juli" Baker. Looking into each other's eyes, Juli knows that it is love, but Bryce is unsettled and avoids her.
Four years later, Juli is still enamored, rarely leaving Bryce alone. Desperate to get rid of her, he pretends to date Sherry Stalls, a popular girl Juli dislikes. Bryce's best friend Garrett tells Sherry the truth, so she dumps him. Embarrassed, Bryce hopes that in the upcoming seventh grade, Juli will finally meet someone else.
The following year, Bryce's grandfather Chet Duncan moves in. Juli adores an old sycamore tree in their neighborhood, so when one day they start to cut it down, she tries to protect it by climbing it, refusing to come down. After much attention from the town, her father Richard talks her down and it is removed. Juli is inconsolable until he gives her a painting of it, which calms her. An article is printed about it in the local paper, which Chet shows Bryce in an attempt to get him to open up his mind. Bryce is not convinced.
Using chicks from her school science fair project, Juli starts raising hens in her backyard. She sells their eggs to her neighbors but gives them to the Loskis as a kind gesture. She is hurt upon discovering Bryce has been throwing them away because his father fears the eggs' quality. When Bryce uses the Bakers' poorly cared for yard as an excuse, Juli gets embarrassed, so she decides to fix it up.
Chet helps Juli with her yard work upon seeing her out working, and they develop a good friendship. When Bryce's father, Steven, criticizes the Bakers' seeming lack of pride in their property, Chet defends them, pointing out that they rent and the landlord should be who takes care of it. Additionally, most of their finances go into caring for Juli's mentally disabled uncle Daniel.
Encouraged to broaden her mind by Chet, Juli starts to question if she actually likes Bryce. Afterward, Juli is told by a classmate that he has been admiring her, but she overhears him seemingly agreeing with Garrett as he makes fun of her and Daniel, causing Juli to lose interest. Unbeknownst to her, Bryce is disgusted with Garrett's attitude and distances himself from him, but they remain friendly.
Feeling bad about their apathy towards the Bakers, Bryce's mother Patsy invites them over for a family dinner. Juli confronts Bryce privately and reveals she overheard him, calling him a coward. After dinner, however, Juli apologizes to Bryce for her behavior, but he realizes now she feels indifferent to him, leaving Bryce hurt and thinking more about Juli as a person, not the way she had always acted around him.
As the annual school basket boy auction charity event approaches, Bryce discovers he has been selected as a basket boy so will be auctioned off to the other students along with a homemade lunch. He hears a rumor that Sherry and another girl are going to bid for him but he does not care. Instead, he focuses on Juli, who has her egg money with her, but she bids on the rejected boy Eddie Trulock instead of Bryce. Sherry wins Bryce.
During the lunch, Bryce is uninterested in Sherry's conversation and instead watches Juli with Eddie. Finally realizing his feelings for her, he gets up and tries to kiss her in front of everyone, but she flees, humiliated. Bryce runs after her, and Garrett confronts him for abandoning the prettiest girl in school. When he makes fun of Juli, Bryce ends their friendship. He tries to talk to her and explain, going to great lengths to try and contact her but she will not see or speak to him.
Two days later, with Richard's permission, Bryce plants a sapling sycamore tree in their front yard to show her how he truly feels. When she sees this, she joins him and realizes that after all these years, they had never really talked. As they plant the tree, their hands touch, they look into each other's eyes and smile.