Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan) is your typical sixteen year old growing up in the 1960's in a London suburb. Her life revolves around one thing - getting into Oxford. Her father wants her to have a better life than he had, and is helping her to do whatever is necessary to get into the school. Everything changes in a hurry when Jenny meets David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard), a much older man who is nearly twice her age. David does everything he can to show Jenny's family that his intentions are pure, and Jenny is quickly involved with him. They spend a lot of time with David's constant companions, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Helen (Rosamund Pike), and the relationship between Jenny and David quickly turns into a romance. As she gets to know David more, she begins to learn that he has some less than noble ways of making money and doing some other things in his life.