Samantha (Molly Ringwald) is having the worst birthday ever. Her older sister is getting married tomorrow, Jake (Michael Schoeffling), the guy she has a crush on accidentally reads a personal note she wrote, Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall), a total geek hits on her on the school bus, and to top it all off, her own family forgot her birthday in the midst of the wedding planning. To get away from the familial craziness, she goes to the school dance, only her grandparents make her take the foreign exchange student that is staying with them. Instead of wallowing in her misery, she goes to the school dance where she again encounters the geek, but also the guy of her dreams. Will her family remember her birthday? Is there a chance Jake knows she exists?