Dorothy turns in Hermie's direction, and, embarrassed, he runs off, to the amusement of Oscy and Benjie. Hermie's next encounter with Dorothy occurs outside Mr. Sanders' store. The boy is reading a comic book while keeping watch, hoping Dorothy will come by. His prayers are answered as she appears and enters the store. Finishing her shopping with Mr. Sanders, she leaves the store weighed down by heavy bags of groceries. She struggles with the bags, finally dropping them. Hermie seizes the opportunity, offers his assistance and helps her home with the groceries while chiding himself over his artless efforts to make charming conversation. Oscy and Benjie see him with Dorothy and try to get his attention but he ignores them. Hermie and Dorothy arrive with the groceries at her beach house. She thanks him for helping her, invites him in and serves him coffee, which he has never had before and pretends to like even though he almost gags drinking it. They discover that they share similar tastes in music and old movies. Hermie leaves and is confronted by Oscy and Benjie, who are eager to know what happened. Alone, Hermie reflects on meeting Dorothy, only to realise to his dismay that he still doesn't know her name. Walter Winchell delivers another dispatch, reporting again on the war but also on the blistering temperatures on the home front, and the three-girl chorus offers its own take on the weather. Hermie, Oscy and Benjie meet up outside the island's movie theatre. They see the three girls and Oscy makes a move, saying he and his pals would like to take them to the movie and will "spring for refreshments". Miriam and Aggie accept the invitation, pairing up with Oscy and Hermie respectively. But Benjie runs off, petrified, and Gloria also leaves. Just then Dorothy emerges from the theatre, greets Hermie and asks if he would come by her place tomorrow to help her move some heavy boxes into storage. Oscy can't believe how chummy Hermie has become with the beautiful war bride. Oscy and Hermie join their dates in the theatre, where they spend more time trying to get to second base than they do watching the film. Oscy makes progress with Miriam but Hermie clumsily strikes out with Aggie. Afterwards the two couples make a date for a cookout on the beach. The next morning Hermie arrives at Dorothy's house. She starts to take him into the bedroom, which he misinterprets, before realising she simply wants him to put several large boxes into the attic. Hermie is awed more than ever by her beauty. As he struggles with the boxes, he has a fantasy in which Aggie, Miriam and Gloria are all dressed as Dorothy look-alikes. The fantasy ends with Hermie trembling, and Dorothy offers him a glass of water. She talks lovingly of Pete, and Hermie dejectedly leaves. In a duet ending Act One, Hermie is wistful about Dorothy while she prays for Pete's safe return from the war in the Pacific. Act Two begins with Oscy prepping Hermie and Benjie for the upcoming cookout with Aggie, Miriam and Gloria by sharing with his buddies a 12-step plan for sexual conquest, based on a "medical textbook" he inherited from his older brother. The girls appear as the chorus and hint that they may be anticipating an amorous evening as well. By way of further preparation, Oscy accompanies Hermie to Mr. Sanders' store to buy condoms. Hermie is reluctant, then mortified, but after several false starts he succeeds in scoring the requisite goods from the intimidating Mr. Sanders. As the cookout begins, the teenagers dance, then move off as couples and engage in varying degrees of intimacy. Hermie and Aggie warm to each other over marshmallows only to be interrupted by Benjie, who is now hitting it off with Gloria and wants to borrow a quarter so he can take her on a carousel ride. They are also repeatedly interrupted by Oscy, who is getting hot and heavy with Miriam and feels obliged to give Hermie a play-by-play account. Hermie kisses Aggie, but it's a half-hearted and unsatisfying effort, and she runs off, leaving him alone to moon over Dorothy. Hermie whiles the night away on the beach, ending up at daybreak at Dorothy's house, where he finds her on the porch writing a letter to Pete. They talk, opening up to each other about their insecurities. Dorothy takes the sight of the rising sun as a hopeful sign of renewal and good things ahead. Hermie wrangles an invitation to visit her that night and is finally emboldened enough to ask her name. Walter Winchell reports on the fierce fighting now raging in the Pacific as the three girls, in chorus, pay homage to the nation's brave fighting men. In early evening Hermie, dressed in his best clothes, starts off toward Dorothy's house when Oscy intercepts him and makes fun of Hermie's obvious infatuation with her. He makes a crude reference to Dorothy, angering Hermie, who tells off Oscy. The newly assertive Hermie obviously has grown up this summer and he's about to grow up even more.
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