Photography student Tom Brighton (Daniel J. Travanti, Capt. Frank Furillo from "Hill Street Blues") takes a picture of Gidget (Sally Field) before introducing himself to her. Gidget's brother-in-law, psychology student John Cooper (Peter Duel) feels she is in love with the photographer, who is nine years older than her. She agrees with John's finding. Tom poses her by a large rock for a magazine cover shoot. Gidget is disappointed to find it would be for a teen magazine, and disheartened when he says he wants her face to be every youthful face determined to make her mark on the world. She sheds a tear now knowing that he doesn't feel the same about her. When she goes to his apartment darkroom to tell him that she can no longer pose for him, she misinterprets his remarks about her to think he indeed is in love with her too. His fiancée Penelope Peterson (Sabrina Scharf, Sarah in "Easy Rider") phones, who he affectionately calls "Pete" and Gidget leaves smitten, unknowingly thinking it's one of the guys. Gidget rushes home to tell her father (Don Porter) and when Tom calls for her, she thinks she is leaving for a proposal. She's unknowingly on a path for her first heartbreak, and a touching conclusion.
While more dramatic than comical, this is certainly the most feeling, well-written show to this point in the series.