In September 1965, on the fictitious New England island of New Penzance, 12-year-old orphan Sam Shakusky is attending Camp Ivanhoe, a Khaki Scout summer camp led by Scoutmaster
Randy Ward. Suzy Bishop, also 12, lives on the island with her parents,
Walt and Laura, both attorneys, and her three younger brothers in a
house called Summer's End. Sam and Suzy, both introverted, intelligent
and mature for their age, met in the summer of 1964 during a church
performance of Noye's Fludde
and have been pen pals since then. Their relationship having become
romantic over the course of their correspondence, they have made a
secret pact to reunite and run away together. Sam brings camping
equipment, and Suzy brings her binoculars, six books, her kitten, and
her brother's battery-powered record player. They hike, camp, and fish
together in the wilderness with the goal of reaching a secluded cove on
the island. Meanwhile, the Khaki Scouts have become aware of Sam's
absence, finding a letter that he left behind stating that he has
resigned his position as a Khaki Scout.
Scoutmaster Ward tells the Khaki
Scouts to use their skills to create a search party and find Sam.
Eventually, Sam and Suzy are confronted by a group of Khaki Scouts
who try to capture them and, during the resulting altercation, Suzy
injures the Scouts' de facto leader, Redford, with her scissors and Camp
Ivanhoe's dog is killed by a stray shot from a bow and arrow wielded by
one of the Scouts. The Scouts flee and Sam and Suzy hike to the cove
which they name Moonrise Kingdom. They set up camp and go swimming.
Later, while drying off, they begin dancing to Françoise Hardy in their underwear. As the romantic tension between them grows, they kiss repeatedly.
Suzy's parents, Scoutmaster Ward, the Scouts from Camp Ivanhoe, and
Island Police Captain Duffy Sharp find Sam and Suzy in their tent at the
cove. Suzy's parents take her home and when Sharp contacts the foster
parents he is told that they no longer wish to house Sam. He stays with
Sharp while they await the arrival of "Social Services" - an otherwise
nameless woman with plans to place Sam in a "juvenile refuge" and to
explore the possibility of treating him with electroshock therapy.
The Camp Ivanhoe Scouts have a change of heart and decide to help the
couple. Together, they paddle to a neighboring St. Jack Wood Island to
seek out the help of Cousin Ben, an older relative of one of the Scouts.
Ben works at Fort Lebanon, a larger Khaki Scout summer camp located on
St. Jack Wood Island and run by Commander Pierce, who is Ward's boss.
Ben decides that the best available option is to try to get Sam and Suzy
aboard a crabbing boat anchored off the island so that Sam can work as a
crewman and avoid Social Services, but before leaving he performs a
"wedding" ceremony, which he admits is not legally binding. Sam and Suzy
never make it onto the crabbing boat, and instead are pursued by Suzy's
parents, Captain Sharp, Social Services, and the scouts of Fort Lebanon
under the command of Scoutmaster Ward.
A violent hurricane and flash flood strike only three days after Sam
and Suzy first ran away from home and, after many twists and turns,
Sharp apprehends Sam and Suzy on the steeple of the church in which they
first met. The steeple is destroyed by lightning, but everyone
survives. During the storm, Sharp decides to become Sam's legal
guardian, thus saving Sam from the orphanage, as well as allowing him to
remain on New Penzance Island and maintain contact with Suzy.
At Summer's End, Sam is painting a landscape of Moonrise Kingdom.
Suzy and her brothers are called to dinner. On slipping out of the
window to join Sharp in his patrol car, Sam tells Suzy that he will see
her the following day.
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