Love Story

Oliver Barrett IV, heir of an upper-class family, attends Harvard College, where he majors in social studies and plays ice hockey. He meets Jennifer "Jenny" Cavilleri, a quick-witted, working-class Radcliffe College student majoring in classical music. He invites her to a hockey game versus Dartmouth College and they fall in love despite their differences. Later, Oliver's father drives a long distance to Ithaca, New York, to see his son's hockey game against Cornell University for the All-Ivy title. Barrett is suspended from the game for fighting and Harvard loses to Cornell, 4–3. Oliver turns down his father's offer of a steak dinner and help in getting into Harvard Law School. Jenny reveals that she has a scholarship arranged for after her Radcliffe graduation to study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Oliver is upset that he does not figure in Jenny's plans and proposes marriage. She accepts his proposal and he takes her to the Barrett mansion to meet his parents, who are uncomfortable with her Italian-American and blue-collar background. Oliver's father says he will cut him off financially if he marries Jenny. They visit her father, Phil, a widowed baker in Cranston, Rhode Island, who wants Oliver to get along with his father. Phil wants a Catholic wedding but Oliver and Jenny marry themselves with him reciting "Song of the Open Road" by Walt Whitman and her reciting "Sonnet 22" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Jenny works as a teacher but without his father's financial support the couple struggle to pay Oliver's way through Harvard Law School. Oliver graduates third in his class and takes a position at a high-powered New York City law firm. They are ready to start a family but fail to conceive. After Jenny undergoes three blood tests, Oliver is told that she is terminally ill. Oliver attempts to continue as normal without telling Jenny of her condition, but she confronts her doctor and finds out the truth. Oliver buys tickets to Paris, but she declines to go, wanting only to spend time with him. Oliver seeks money from his estranged father to pay for Jenny's medical care, but as a matter of pride does not disclose the reason for this request. Although his father assumes an extramarital affair, which Oliver makes no attempt to deny, he lends the money anyway. From her hospital bed, Jenny makes arrangements with her father for a Catholic funeral. She tells Oliver to not blame himself, insisting that he never held her back from music and Paris and it was worth it for the love they shared. Jenny's last wish is for Oliver to embrace her tightly as she dies. A grief-stricken Oliver leaves the hospital and sees his father outside, who has learned the true reason for Oliver's request. When his father gives his condolence, Oliver replies that "love means never having to say you're sorry", something that Jenny had said to him earlier. Oliver walks alone to the open air ice rink, where Jenny had watched him skate the day she was hospitalized.

Plot from Love Story (1970 film)CC BY-SA 4.0