Wealthy Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O’Neal) is attending Harvard, the latest in a list of Barretts to do so. There he meets Radcliffe scholarship student Jennifer Cavilleri (Ali McGraw). Against the wishes of his father, the two fall in love and marry. Oliver Barrett III thereby disowns his son and severs all financial ties. Jenny takes a job teaching in a small, private school while the young couple struggles to put Oliver through law school. The two can barely make ends meet, but they are very in love and extremely happy together. Finally Oliver graduates and finds employment with a prestigious law firm. It looks like their troubles are over. They decide to have a baby. Time passes, and Jenny fails to conceive. They seek help from a doctor who performs many tests. He discovers that Jenny is terminally ill and tells Oliver. Oliver doesn’t tell Jenny and tries to continue a normal life. Despite his best efforts, Jenny knows something is wrong and demands to be told. The medical bills become so overwhelming that Oliver is forced to go to his father for money; however, he doesn’t tell his father why he wants it, and his father refuses.